With the party going their separate ways for the night, Gerrard heads upstairs early himself. He neatens his room and lays out his clothes for the morning so he will be ready to quickly depart in the morning.
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Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
The crowd at the Wicker Goat continues to be loud and boisterous.
Boko, Qivys, and Gerrard head to bed upstairs. (1 gp/night for room and boards.)
Oceanus, too, departs for the night. He doesn't mention where he is boarding.
Before checking for eavesdroppers (and sensing none), Kei departs into the night. (Watch for PM.)
Peri gets an automatic roar of approval to his sloppy toast, and then scans the crowd for local maritime knowledge. But he senses these are all land folks - northerners, out-of-town land-based traders, guards, loyalists, and the like. Only the cleverest or most foolhardy of smugglers would ever show their face in here. And it's not a fisher or sailor crowd, for sure. Nevertheless, there might be an old local or two here he could identify with knowledge of the vacant lands to the west.
[Already deducted 10 gp for Gerrard's lifestyle when we got to port]
Unless he is interrupted in the night, Gerrard wakes up early, before dawn, and stretches quickly. Scrubbing himself clean and putting on his travelling clothes, he quickly checks his bulkier possessions in his bag of holding, then heads down for an early breakfast. He stops by the temple of Procan for a personal blessing before embarking on the trip--knowing how disastrously it went last time, he doesn't ask for a formal ceremony for everyone at the dock unless someone else has already planned it. He aims to arrive at the dock just as the sun is rising, as was requested by the Farbern.
His friends having abandoned him, Peri circulates around the tables, swapping jokes, telling sea stories, and getting progressively drunker. At some point it catches up to him, and he passes out under a bench.
Qivys sleeps but on one or two occasions he mutter about chasing his bird.
He wakes and stretches, habits formed during his military career, and does an inventory of his gear, making sure he is not missing anything. He will wait till it is light outside before he collects his things and moves down stairs. He will park his dwarven behind on the bench Peri is sleeping under and hums a dwarven tune. He makes a mental note. "Need ta get a good pipe an' pipe weed when I get back."
Here, he will wait for the others to arrive, occasionally nudging the sleeping halfling from time to time with his foot.
Boko spends most of her time examining the cloak and once she realizes what it is, she sits back, a small smile on her face. She looks up at Oceanus and asks if he knows Luca. She explains briefly her connection and history with him and listens for any response, relying on translations. But otherwise she removes herself from the boisterousness and retires to get some sleep, only staying inside due to the weather. She is there on the dock at dawn.
What passes for dawn arrives in Saltmarsh – a brightening of the cold gloom. It is heavily overcast, bitter cold, but with fair winds and good visibility.
Boko and Gerrard are greeted at the docks by Oceanus, and a man who introduces himself as Tom Stoutly, who leads what amounts to Saltmarsh's coast guard - a marine branch of the town guard, under Farbern, that watches over the docks and bay. He has prepared a modified keelboat with two pairs of oars, two rowboats, and a step-down mast, large enough to accommodate everyone and their gear. He has spears, heavy crossbows, a large jug of poison, insulated swim shirts, rations, signal flares, and a case of potions.
Through Gerrard (and her own understanding of Primordial), Boko learns that Oceanus does not know Luca specifically, although the sea elves do know of the tradition of benevolent druid hermits scattered along the coast – a sort of loose network of powerful beings who keep an eye on the balance of nature in the region.
Back at the tavern, Qivys waits for Peri to awaken. Peri is missing a shoe.
Peri wakes up to a pounding head, which makes sense, and a repetitive thumping in his ribs, which does not. He pries his eyelids open and gets a jolt of terror as, for just one instant, he is sure he’s in his coffin! But the burst of adrenaline clears the cobwebs enough for him to realize it’s the bottom of a bunk above him, not a coffin lid. Not bloody likely to wind up in a coffin anyhow. Maybe a shroud made from old flour sacks, if you’re lucky.
At a second look, it’s not a bunk at all, but the bottom of a bench, hopefully in the Wicker Goat. The thumping is a boot, dwarven style, nudging him awake. “All right, dammit Dwal! I’m awake!” he croaks through a mouth as dry as ship’s biscuit. He remembers it probably isn’t Dwal but Qivys, but no matter, the point stands. He rolls out from under the bench and stands, though he has to pause a few seconds to let the nausea and the head pounding die down to merely terrible. It’s then that he notices the cold in one foot, and looks down to see one of his fancy boots missing.
”Breakfast,” he croaks, then, “Water first. Then food.” He hobbles around looking for the lost shoe, in the process stepping in something foul and squishy. Perception11 At some point in the search he remembers today is not a day for dress shoes anyway and pulls the ugly slippers from his coat and puts them on.
Qivys looks down at Peri as he rolls out from under the bench. "Good Mornin' Sunshine" he says grinning. "Did ya have a nice time sleepin' with tha bugs an' rats?" he asks, amusingly. Qivys lets Peri get up and "right himself". "Glad ta see ya make it back ta tha land of tha livin'" he chides.
Boko is glad to be able to speak with Oceanus. She chats more with Tom Stoutly, introducing herself and thanking him succinctly for his help. "Will you be joining us, or staying here?"
When Peri shows up with a normal shoe and a slipper, her eyes take in the wardrobe change. "Does that help?" she asks, perhaps with sincerity, though it's hard to tell.
She's wearing the grey cloak, which smells faintly of brimstone. Looking out at the water, she does a small movement with her hands, casting druidcraft to get a weather report for the next 24 hours.
"As far as I know, yes," answers Gerrard, taking one of the insulated swim shirts, a heavy crossbow with a case of bolts, and his allotment of potions.
In Elvish, he asks Oceanus, "So I saw that marvelous coral rapier the mermaid ambassador possessed. What languages do her people speak? I tried to communicate with her, but she seemed just interested in leaving as I was asking her about her blade."
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Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
"Glad ta see ya make it back ta tha land of tha livin'" he chides.
"For however long that lasts..." he grumbles. He finds himself a cup of water, gulps it down, refills it, and gulps it again. Then he drags himself to his room to retrieve his gear. He rejoins Qivys in the common room and grabs anything available for breakfast. Since the others are gone, and it's already daylight, he gets it to carry with them on the trip down the coast. "Well? Let's get this nonsense over with."
On the way to the waterfront he makes only one stop in an alley, to be loudly sick. He rejoins Qivys, a bit more color in his cheeks. "There, that's two unpleasant tasks outta the way. Wakin' up and gettin' sick. It all gets better from here." When they meet the others at the docks he realizes (after Boko points it out for the whole world) that he is in fact wearing mismatched shoes. "Might could help, if that Brinehald comes to fill one up with water. Gotta plan ahead for these things. New cloak? Looks good, but you might need to get it washed." At the mention of unpleasant smells it occurs to Peri that he might not be the most pleasant himself, so he tries to stay downwind of the party.
Qivys waits at the door while Peri retrieve his things and once Peri rejoins him, Qivys says little, just holds the door open for the halfling and they are off. Waiting for Peri to get done heaving, Qivys says. "Ya know, I gave up tha cups." he tells the halfling. "Better for tha mind an' body."
Once they get to the docks he will nod to everyone but says little, following along like a good soldier.
Tom replies to Boko, "I'll be staying with the boat. We'll get you there, stay out of sight, and be ready to get you out of there at a moment's notice." He comes across as a smart, competent master mariner.
Boko portends the coming weather. Much of the same: clear, cold, and cloudy.
Oceanus responds to Gerrard, in Elvish, "She speaks Common as well as my own language. I think she was just interested in leaving. I think she is not comfortable in above-water gatherings like that."
As Peri and Qivys arrive, you make final preparations for departure. "We're waiting on two. One of yours and one of mine," announces Tom. "Then we'll be off."
The fishing fleet is beginning to depart the harbor into the bay. The waterfront is busy.
Whistling a rather sombre tune Kei walks the streets of Saltmarsh as the sun rises. He reaches the waters edge just as Peri and Qivys do. "I see the drink did nothing to dampen your enthusiasm " he remarks to the halfling. "Although" he sniffs the air "it did ruin our chances of approaching unnoticed".
He tells the party what he learned of the area and the route to their destination. There should be no trouble on their travels except from maybe the Sea Princes, the coast is mainly barren and that the Sea Devils have no known allies to act as an early warning.
The last member of the crew shows up, huffing and puffing. He mutters an apology for his tardiness to Tom. An old man, he's missing two fingers on his right hand. In its place, the gruff old sailor has a hooked pair of barbs that attach via his wrist and thumb – resembling something between a wireframe glove and a gardening tool. Peri and Qivys remember him as "Butter".
"G'mornin', fellas," he says with a hint of honest cheer.
"Are we ready?" asks Tom. "The day awaits. Let's set out!"
Butters cheerful greeting grates at Kei's nerves. He shuffles closer to Peri and gives him a gentle nudge in the shoulder. "This guy's a guard here? Impossible. There must be something wrong with him." He snipes at Butters attitude.
Seeing Butter takes Peri's headache from throbbing to hammering. "YOU! You worthless... What's he doin' here? If you're short ballast I'll go find you some stones -- probably smarter than he is anyway! Stupid, useless... You'd screw up bein' an anchor! No! Farbern knows better; he's messin' with me now, and it's time we had it out! Bad enough we gotta go off and do their scoutin' for 'em, now he wants to laugh!" Peri stalks over in front of Butter. "What's his game? Why's he scuttlin' this mission before we've even cast off? FARBERN! You treacherous weasel! You workin' for the pirates and the sea-devils?"
Butter glowers quietly but doesn't engage. Tom Stoutly stands between Butter and Peri and gently puts his hand up.
"Butter is an experienced and professional mariner and pilot. I will vouch for him. If you have any old business with him, I ask that you set it aside for this mission. We have one job here, and that is to scout. Butter will follow my orders exactly; you don't need to worry about him."
Butter quietly clicks his metal fingers against the hull as he prepares the lines for departure, his face an angry and unhealthy shade of purple.
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Gerrard:
With the party going their separate ways for the night, Gerrard heads upstairs early himself. He neatens his room and lays out his clothes for the morning so he will be ready to quickly depart in the morning.
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
The crowd at the Wicker Goat continues to be loud and boisterous.
Boko, Qivys, and Gerrard head to bed upstairs. (1 gp/night for room and boards.)
Oceanus, too, departs for the night. He doesn't mention where he is boarding.
Before checking for eavesdroppers (and sensing none), Kei departs into the night. (Watch for PM.)
Peri gets an automatic roar of approval to his sloppy toast, and then scans the crowd for local maritime knowledge. But he senses these are all land folks - northerners, out-of-town land-based traders, guards, loyalists, and the like. Only the cleverest or most foolhardy of smugglers would ever show their face in here. And it's not a fisher or sailor crowd, for sure. Nevertheless, there might be an old local or two here he could identify with knowledge of the vacant lands to the west.
Your combined knowledge of the region:
Gerrard:
[Already deducted 10 gp for Gerrard's lifestyle when we got to port]
Unless he is interrupted in the night, Gerrard wakes up early, before dawn, and stretches quickly. Scrubbing himself clean and putting on his travelling clothes, he quickly checks his bulkier possessions in his bag of holding, then heads down for an early breakfast. He stops by the temple of Procan for a personal blessing before embarking on the trip--knowing how disastrously it went last time, he doesn't ask for a formal ceremony for everyone at the dock unless someone else has already planned it. He aims to arrive at the dock just as the sun is rising, as was requested by the Farbern.
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Peri:
His friends having abandoned him, Peri circulates around the tables, swapping jokes, telling sea stories, and getting progressively drunker. At some point it catches up to him, and he passes out under a bench.
Qivys sleeps but on one or two occasions he mutter about chasing his bird.
He wakes and stretches, habits formed during his military career, and does an inventory of his gear, making sure he is not missing anything. He will wait till it is light outside before he collects his things and moves down stairs. He will park his dwarven behind on the bench Peri is sleeping under and hums a dwarven tune.
He makes a mental note. "Need ta get a good pipe an' pipe weed when I get back."
Here, he will wait for the others to arrive, occasionally nudging the sleeping halfling from time to time with his foot.
Boko spends most of her time examining the cloak and once she realizes what it is, she sits back, a small smile on her face. She looks up at Oceanus and asks if he knows Luca. She explains briefly her connection and history with him and listens for any response, relying on translations. But otherwise she removes herself from the boisterousness and retires to get some sleep, only staying inside due to the weather. She is there on the dock at dawn.
What passes for dawn arrives in Saltmarsh – a brightening of the cold gloom. It is heavily overcast, bitter cold, but with fair winds and good visibility.
Boko and Gerrard are greeted at the docks by Oceanus, and a man who introduces himself as Tom Stoutly, who leads what amounts to Saltmarsh's coast guard - a marine branch of the town guard, under Farbern, that watches over the docks and bay. He has prepared a modified keelboat with two pairs of oars, two rowboats, and a step-down mast, large enough to accommodate everyone and their gear. He has spears, heavy crossbows, a large jug of poison, insulated swim shirts, rations, signal flares, and a case of potions.
Through Gerrard (and her own understanding of Primordial), Boko learns that Oceanus does not know Luca specifically, although the sea elves do know of the tradition of benevolent druid hermits scattered along the coast – a sort of loose network of powerful beings who keep an eye on the balance of nature in the region.
Back at the tavern, Qivys waits for Peri to awaken. Peri is missing a shoe.
Kei hasn't appeared yet.
Peri:
Peri wakes up to a pounding head, which makes sense, and a repetitive thumping in his ribs, which does not. He pries his eyelids open and gets a jolt of terror as, for just one instant, he is sure he’s in his coffin! But the burst of adrenaline clears the cobwebs enough for him to realize it’s the bottom of a bunk above him, not a coffin lid. Not bloody likely to wind up in a coffin anyhow. Maybe a shroud made from old flour sacks, if you’re lucky.
At a second look, it’s not a bunk at all, but the bottom of a bench, hopefully in the Wicker Goat. The thumping is a boot, dwarven style, nudging him awake. “All right, dammit Dwal! I’m awake!” he croaks through a mouth as dry as ship’s biscuit. He remembers it probably isn’t Dwal but Qivys, but no matter, the point stands. He rolls out from under the bench and stands, though he has to pause a few seconds to let the nausea and the head pounding die down to merely terrible. It’s then that he notices the cold in one foot, and looks down to see one of his fancy boots missing.
”Breakfast,” he croaks, then, “Water first. Then food.” He hobbles around looking for the lost shoe, in the process stepping in something foul and squishy. Perception 11 At some point in the search he remembers today is not a day for dress shoes anyway and pulls the ugly slippers from his coat and puts them on.
Qivys looks down at Peri as he rolls out from under the bench.
"Good Mornin' Sunshine" he says grinning. "Did ya have a nice time sleepin' with tha bugs an' rats?" he asks, amusingly.
Qivys lets Peri get up and "right himself".
"Glad ta see ya make it back ta tha land of tha livin'" he chides.
Boko is glad to be able to speak with Oceanus. She chats more with Tom Stoutly, introducing herself and thanking him succinctly for his help. "Will you be joining us, or staying here?"
When Peri shows up with a normal shoe and a slipper, her eyes take in the wardrobe change. "Does that help?" she asks, perhaps with sincerity, though it's hard to tell.
She's wearing the grey cloak, which smells faintly of brimstone. Looking out at the water, she does a small movement with her hands, casting druidcraft to get a weather report for the next 24 hours.
"Is Kei coming?" she asks Gerrard.
Gerrard:
"As far as I know, yes," answers Gerrard, taking one of the insulated swim shirts, a heavy crossbow with a case of bolts, and his allotment of potions.
In Elvish, he asks Oceanus, "So I saw that marvelous coral rapier the mermaid ambassador possessed. What languages do her people speak? I tried to communicate with her, but she seemed just interested in leaving as I was asking her about her blade."
Gerrard Feldren - Human Noble in Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Kerric Brightblade - Elven Warrior in "Apocalypse"
Peri:
"For however long that lasts..." he grumbles. He finds himself a cup of water, gulps it down, refills it, and gulps it again. Then he drags himself to his room to retrieve his gear. He rejoins Qivys in the common room and grabs anything available for breakfast. Since the others are gone, and it's already daylight, he gets it to carry with them on the trip down the coast. "Well? Let's get this nonsense over with."
On the way to the waterfront he makes only one stop in an alley, to be loudly sick. He rejoins Qivys, a bit more color in his cheeks. "There, that's two unpleasant tasks outta the way. Wakin' up and gettin' sick. It all gets better from here." When they meet the others at the docks he realizes (after Boko points it out for the whole world) that he is in fact wearing mismatched shoes. "Might could help, if that Brinehald comes to fill one up with water. Gotta plan ahead for these things. New cloak? Looks good, but you might need to get it washed." At the mention of unpleasant smells it occurs to Peri that he might not be the most pleasant himself, so he tries to stay downwind of the party.
Qivys waits at the door while Peri retrieve his things and once Peri rejoins him, Qivys says little, just holds the door open for the halfling and they are off.
Waiting for Peri to get done heaving, Qivys says.
"Ya know, I gave up tha cups." he tells the halfling. "Better for tha mind an' body."
Once they get to the docks he will nod to everyone but says little, following along like a good soldier.
Tom replies to Boko, "I'll be staying with the boat. We'll get you there, stay out of sight, and be ready to get you out of there at a moment's notice." He comes across as a smart, competent master mariner.
Boko portends the coming weather. Much of the same: clear, cold, and cloudy.
Oceanus responds to Gerrard, in Elvish, "She speaks Common as well as my own language. I think she was just interested in leaving. I think she is not comfortable in above-water gatherings like that."
As Peri and Qivys arrive, you make final preparations for departure. "We're waiting on two. One of yours and one of mine," announces Tom. "Then we'll be off."
The fishing fleet is beginning to depart the harbor into the bay. The waterfront is busy.
Kei
Whistling a rather sombre tune Kei walks the streets of Saltmarsh as the sun rises. He reaches the waters edge just as Peri and Qivys do. "I see the drink did nothing to dampen your enthusiasm " he remarks to the halfling. "Although" he sniffs the air "it did ruin our chances of approaching unnoticed".
He tells the party what he learned of the area and the route to their destination. There should be no trouble on their travels except from maybe the Sea Princes, the coast is mainly barren and that the Sea Devils have no known allies to act as an early warning.
The last member of the crew shows up, huffing and puffing. He mutters an apology for his tardiness to Tom. An old man, he's missing two fingers on his right hand. In its place, the gruff old sailor has a hooked pair of barbs that attach via his wrist and thumb – resembling something between a wireframe glove and a gardening tool. Peri and Qivys remember him as "Butter".
"G'mornin', fellas," he says with a hint of honest cheer.
"Are we ready?" asks Tom. "The day awaits. Let's set out!"
Kei
Butters cheerful greeting grates at Kei's nerves. He shuffles closer to Peri and gives him a gentle nudge in the shoulder. "This guy's a guard here? Impossible. There must be something wrong with him." He snipes at Butters attitude.
Peri:
Seeing Butter takes Peri's headache from throbbing to hammering. "YOU! You worthless... What's he doin' here? If you're short ballast I'll go find you some stones -- probably smarter than he is anyway! Stupid, useless... You'd screw up bein' an anchor! No! Farbern knows better; he's messin' with me now, and it's time we had it out! Bad enough we gotta go off and do their scoutin' for 'em, now he wants to laugh!" Peri stalks over in front of Butter. "What's his game? Why's he scuttlin' this mission before we've even cast off? FARBERN! You treacherous weasel! You workin' for the pirates and the sea-devils?"
Butter glowers quietly but doesn't engage. Tom Stoutly stands between Butter and Peri and gently puts his hand up.
"Butter is an experienced and professional mariner and pilot. I will vouch for him. If you have any old business with him, I ask that you set it aside for this mission. We have one job here, and that is to scout. Butter will follow my orders exactly; you don't need to worry about him."
Butter quietly clicks his metal fingers against the hull as he prepares the lines for departure, his face an angry and unhealthy shade of purple.