Ignoring the man's little tirade Allorian follows him back to the Laughing Mermaid- "I am Allorian, your name sir? I am sorry we got off on the wrong foot but you WERE about to attack my friend for completely unfounded reasons."

(when we get there) "Is it possible that someone else is using the other side of the river and the bullywugs are kidnapping your children again as a way to renegotiate?

(looks over at Xarrut) We may be on the right track still. If pirates or smugglers are using the bullywugs territory for something they may be trying to extract more payment from these folk.

(refocusing his attention on the lead villager) What is the process for leaving them the payment? Could someone be stealing it before they get it?"

Caliban raises an eyebrow at Allorian's astute observation of potential causes, "I would imagine we all look alike to a bullywugs.  If they pirates did move into their area they might not realize it is a separate group from these villagers."

As you arrive at the Laughing Mermaid, it is in a smaller building than the Breaching Whale. The main room of the inn seems to be of a similar size, but, it clearly doesn't have the number of rooms that are present in the Breaching Whale. Nor is there any trace of a stable associated with this tavern. The man you've been talking to makes a motion to the young woman behind the bar, before directing all of you to the back of the room, where there are several tables near the fireplace. With another motion of the hand, he gets the four individuals in this area to clear out, with the men heading up to the bar, where they sit watching the group. The other five individuals in the tavern also watch the proceedings.

"I am Rhasor Khummo. And, I did keep my fellow villagers from attacking your friend immediately. I suspect you are right, that the bullywugs do want to renegotiate with us. We were not aware that they were the ones behind the kidnappings until tonight. For that information we thank you."

"Do you have evidence that pirates are using the swamp over there? We've seen a few strange ships out in the bay, but, they leave us alone, and but, they haven't ventured close to shore, or at least no one on shore has seen them. We generally meet up with a bullywug over at the remains of the dock in Old Town and give the loot to them directly. I can't imagine anyone would try to steal it. They're not interested in coins, but, they'll take pans, children toys, and various little knacks found around town. Things like dice, cards, glass door knobs, flutes or other musical instruments. Most of the stuff we give them are damaged, and we're no longer interested in keeping. A few people in town will make things for them, but, no weapons."

"In the past, we meet them on the dock every other full moon, at dusk. When the moon is full next week, is our next arranged meeting. The kidnappings started shortly after the last full moon, but, at our last meeting there didn't seem to be any problems the bullywugs. Their current king has been ruling for over a decade and, we thought, was happy with the arrangement. It is possible that he died or was killed and the new king wants more from us to show his power. But, in the past, that was communicated to us at the bimonthly meetings. With them having six of our children, we do not want to wait until next week."

"Well mister, Rhasor. I would love to help in any way I can. But I am not the brightest planner, but maybe one of my allies here could form an idea."

Bayard hangs back to the rear of the group for the moment, listening to the rest of the sailors talking, listening for any gossip that may be relevant.

Perception: 17

"Do you have any boats we could use to cross the river and enter the swamp?  We could try to find the bullywugs and negotiate on your behalf.  With six children already gone we cannot wait till the next full moon." 

Generally just keeping an eye on Rhasor to make sure he is not full of poo, "Well Rhasor, we literally just started looking into the pirate situation. They are costing my family and many other families a lot of gold. Obviously this trickles down to every town along the coast because goods are not being delivered. I would like to find out more about those ships that you have been seeing in the harbor and am very interested to see if they are agitating the bullywugs. How can we move forward and make this worth everyones time."

"We'll head over to the swamp tomorrow, and make our way to the bullywug's village. Myself and Serzor will handle the negotiations with the bullywugs. We'll bring Brue along to guide us to the village. He frequently hunts over there. As far as the strange ships go, only a few fisherman have seen them. Very few of our folk go out for deep sea fishing, we mostly stay close to shore and fish in the shallows. But, the descriptions I've been getting don't match any of the ships we know from the San Beyonne or Kardagen, nor do they look like any ship used by the free cities of Halveryn. Drorac, you've seen them haven't you?" the latter question was addressed to a dark haired half-orc sitting at the bar.

"Aye, I have. Me and my boys have seen them twice. The sails look different than any sails I've seen before." Looking at the group of you, he says "Most of our sails our rectangular, and, the bigger ships will have three or four sails on a single mast. These ships, have sort of trapezoidal sails, and they'll have a single sail on a mast, but, it is segmented and the sails appear to be collapsed or expanded depending upon the wind. The ships also seem to be narrower than ours, and have two hulls connected by planking." (ooc basically like a catamaran). 

One of the other men sitting at the bar says "That fits what I've seen too. The flags they fly have strange symbols on them. Yeah, never seen anything like them before." 

Do these ships sound like any ships Xarrut would know? History 16 

Bayard speaks up to the witness of these strange ships, "Have you any idea of what direction they come from or two? I'd be curious about the origin of such a strange design."

"Rhasor, we would like to accompany your team to meet the bullywugs. I would like to see if they know anything about these ships. Of course, I don't want to spook them and endanger your children so maybe you could put in a good word for us. When do you plan to meet them?" 

Turning to the one who mentioned the symbol on the sail, "Can you describe this symbol?" 

Xarrut has never heard of any similar ship. The your knowledge, the use of a double-hull is unknown in Kwalmendi.

The two fishermen say “We’ve seen them sailing to the north and east. The symbol I’ve seen resembles a crushed tomato with a line through it.”

The other man says “The one I saw had a blue flag, with several jagged lines running across it.” With both men noting that the ships were at a far distance and they couldn’t get a clear view of the flags.

Rhasor says “We would very much like to have you accompany us. If they think we’ve hired guards to protect the village, they might change their minds about upping their demands. We’ll have some offering prepared to offer them to get our children back.”

ooc I apologize for the delay in posting. My dog got bit by a rattlesnake last night. On the good news side, after a night at the vets, he is back home and is doing okay.

(Glad to hear he's okay!)

Bayard would nod to Rhasor, and then turn to the others, "Well, looks like we're done for the night? Who wants a drink?"

Caliban pipes in "I have a drink with you.  Might as well make the most of the night.  Any of you have some good stories to tell.  With the swamp and bullywugs you have to have something interesting to tell. Maybe a good ghost story." 

One of the men sitting at bar asks "Have you heard the tale of Marilynn and Hagarull?" When the party shakes their head no, he begins to tell the tale:

"

There is the legend of the destruction of Old Town. It is said that there was a woman, the most beautiful woman in the Halveryn cities. Marilynn was her name. The fame of her beauty spread far and wide, eventually reaching the ears of a prince of the Kardagen Empire. This prince offered to make her a royal concubine. This was in the days when the Halveryn cities were part of the Kardagen Empire. But, Marilyn refused. Her heart was set on a sailor named Hagarull. They were set to be married, when his ship vanished. The Kardagen Empire claimed it was sunk by pirates, but, many people said that it was sunk by a Kardagen war ship. In this view, thhe Prince had Hagarull’s ship sunk so that he could claim Marilynn as his. Shortly after Hagarull disappeared, the Prince appeared in town again, planning on taking Marilynn with him, with or without her permission.

Marilynn agreed to go with him, but, wanted a week to finish her mourning. Here the tales very. Some said Marilynn was a powerful sorceress, others that she made a bargain with a water elemental, or a powerful leviathian to destroy the Prince and his companions. Others say that Hagarull and his fellow sailors came back to wreck havoc on the prince for having them murdered.

When the day came for her to board the Prince’s ship, the wind was starting to pick up speed and towering clouds could be seen forming in the distance. Arrogant, as princes tend to be, particularly those of the Kardagen Empire, the Prince felt his ship was capable of outracing the incoming storm.

Those who watched the storm and survived say that weird creatures could be seen cresting the massive waves. Others claim that the ship Hagarull sailed was at the front of the storm. But, what is known is that the Prince’s boat never made it out of the bay. A massive wave crashed down on the Prince’s ship, destroying it. This storm though, wasn’t content with destroying the ship, but, crashed into Old Town, destroying it as thoroughly as possible.

Sometimes, before a storm hits, people say that they see the ghost of Marilynn standing on the docks Old Town, staring out at sea, waiting for her sailor to return. It is said that her hair and clothes don’t seem to blow with the wind. If you see a beautiful woman standing on the docks of Old Town, you need to find cover immediately. And, on particularly strong storms, Hagarull’s ship can sometimes be seen sailing toward Old Town. If a storm is brewing, and a ship is spotted, we know to head up river as far as the lowest rapids. There is a calm pool of water where we can dock our ships, out of safety of Hagarull’s revenge.

((Glad your dog is doing okay, I always worried about my dog when we lived in Colorado. He is completely oblivious to snakes))

Allorian looks on intently as the man spins his tale, always trying to glean some information out of it that may be truth and useful to him than enjoying the story for its own sake.

"Interesting tale, barkeep, your name again please. It looks like we will be staying and I can't just call you barkeep. A drink for our storyteller here and a bottle for myself and my friends to share."

Turning back to Rhasor- "Just a little more information if you please. How do you communicate with the bullywugs? Do they speak the common tongue?" 

Caliban raises his mug as a toast to the story. "That is a good one and for us to remember that if we see the lady on the docks that no wind touches... we move."  He looks to the others in the group to see how they take the story.

You could see Tandal smiling at the story. "Alway love a happy ending." He says. 

The young woman smiles at Allorian has she gets the drink for the storyteller and the bottle for the party. "I be called Mavi, kind sir."

Rhasor replies to the question "Yes, the bullywugs do speak common. We've had no trouble communicating with them in the past." At this the man stands up and says "I need to be heading out. I have a few things to finish up this evening, and we'll need to be heading out 'bout an hour after sunrise. I'll meet you back here."

Allorian's gut tells him to follow Rhasor but he holds back and stays at the bar. Whatever Rhasor is up to we will find out more tomorrow.

Taking the bottle and returning the smile "Thank you Mavi." ((almost forgot we are at the Mermaid))

Gathering the group at a table Allorian pours each a drink and asks- "Well, do we trust him? One way or another we're interviewing some frogs tomorrow morning. I feel we have made some progress today but I have a feeling we have just started to untangle something here. Caliban, what were you doing before you got mixed up in this?"