Qinfaren is delighted to find some winter clothing with some colouring from the hills and cakes he’s familiar with - a collection of greens and browns.

And he is almost as fascinated by Muharg’s negotiation.

He wonders if there is anyway he could help. Perhaps he could introduce the owner to the mice living in his walls. They seemed nice.

He looks to see if he can find a hole the mice might be using to get in and out.

Shad also would be happy to take the Help action with Muharg, even if only by smiling. He will walk over with the glass eye and the winter coat that most resembles his own and add them to the items on the counter.

"Well, let's see what we've got here," the man says as he begins to itemise everything. "One shield, one pole, one mace, five lots of clothes including boots and coats. Is there anything else? If not do you have anything to trade? Or will you be paying in coins? If so then I can let all this go for twenty gold pieces."

—DM: I think the mace already belongs to Shad, and he wants to trade it for some daggers. Sorry, I’m on my phone and I can’t tag spoilers—

Qinfaren approaches the shopkeeper.

"I don't have anything to trade, unless you would like the clothes I'm wearing," he says. "Or I could introduce you to the mice living here?"

He thinks a moment longer, focuses on his staff, holds his hand out palm up and wiggles his fingers up and around, while saying something in Firbolg.

(OOC Produce Flame )

A small glowing flame appears in Qinfaren's hand. He holds it out to the shopkeeper.

"Or maybe you would like this."

"Actually," Shad says, "the mace is mine already. But I would be happy to trade it for daggers." He takes his coin purse from deep within his coat and holds it in one hand. "What do you think, Muharg? Does that price fill our sails?"

The light from Qinfaren's flame reflects from Shad's eyes.

Muharg caresses his beard with a thoughtful expression “Hmm... Let’s take the mace out of the lot...” Adjusts his belt and nods “What about 15 gold pieces for the clothes, pole shield and eye, and then three daggers in exchange for the mace?”

|| OOC: I’m trying to go for 3gp per character, since Rianath has not been active for a while, and it might be 4 packs of clothing instead of 5 ||

 DM Note: You're right, Rianath has now disappeared as well, or at least seems to have.

"Oh! The mace was yours!" the man exclaims. "Right, okay then I will fetch you three daggers to go with this, and I will accept 15 gold pieces  then."

The man pops into the back again, and a moment later comes back with three daggers.

"Here you go; three daggers."

Bjorn observes the whole exchange quietly, he was never much of a bargainer and it truly fascinated the goliath how easily Muharg navigates the negotiations.

“All right lads, it’s gonna be 3 gold pieces each, are you all fine with it?” Turns to Shad “Do three daggers sound fair for your mace?”

Produces 3gp from a pouch attached to the side of his belt and puts them on the counter.

"The price is fair," Bjorn nods in approval and produces 3gp of his own, placing the coins on the counter next to Muharg's.

Qinfaren digs his large hand into his pouch and counts out three coins, turning them about and looking at the faces on them first before putting them down on the counter.

He’s perfectly happy to trade 3 of these for these wonderful new green and brown winter clothes.

He almost forgets about the flames in his hand and snuffs those out before picking up the clothes and putting them in his pack.

”Are you sure you don’t want an introduction to the mice?” he asks.

Not seeing the interest from the shopkeeper he had hoped for, he turns to the others.

”To the Icebreaker then?”

Shad sets three gold pieces on the counter. He collects the three daggers and stows them in his gear. He rolls the mace toward the shopkeeper.

Shad swallows nervously. "Toward the Icebreaker!" he says.

“All right then, everything shipshape and Bristol Fashion. It’s been a pleasure making business with you” Shakes the shopkeeper’s hand. “Name’s Muharg, Muharg Sunborn. Plain sailing, friend.” Adjusts his belt, nods at the shop owner and turns towards the door.

”Off to the Icebreaker then!” Pats Shad on the back

"Aye, we should tarry no longer. As the elders say, time waits for no man," Bjorn places the clothes in his pack and secures his new shield before walking out the door.

You head the rest of the way to Dragon Beach and to the Icebreaker. You see that there the sailing ship has crew already aboard finishing the last few tasks before getting ready to set sail. You also see Parcelmaster Lennart Bassk waiting on shore by the ship, he impatiently taps his foot on the sand. When he sees you approach he begins to march forward.

"Finally!" he snaps. "I thought you managed to get yourselves lost somewhere. The others showed up ages ago having managed to fetch the other parcels, and make it back here before you. And you left before they did!

I see that you've managed to get hold of some warmer clothes. Though I already had the Luskar Deliverers Warmer Uniforms already prepared for you."

"Our apologies, sir. This is not an excuse by any means, but we got delayed by a band of misfits who thought it would be fun to take away our belongings" His eyes sadden for a moment "Now worms will take away their flesh." Adjusts his belt and nods "We'll try to be more expeditious next time, sir"

"As for the clothes, I don't think to remember anyone mentioning the Luskar Deliverers Warmer Uniforms, sir, so we though convenient to prepare ourselves for the journey. We'll learn from our mistakes on this as well." Sniffles proudly.

"Regarding our task, sir," starts tapping the tip of his left hand fingers with with his right index "we retrieved parcels from Rool, Nezznar and Fel'rekt Lafeen. All up-front payments were done without inconvenience... Even though we had to prove ourselves to Rool before he'd deliver his package."

 "Hmm," Lennart responds. "Well did you expect me to just let my mercenaries freeze to death? Honestly, the success of Luskar Deliverers' rests on the health of the mercenaries that work for it. No mercenaries, no service. No service, no money. You're health is an investment.

Anyway, never mind that now. Here is the package that Rool sent on with his payment. Then please hurry on board."

You exchange packages with Lennart and open the one to find five gold pieces each. After that you quickly board the Icebreaker.

You are quickly shown to a cabin where you can stay whilst sailing on the Icebreaker. Soon the Icebreaker has left shore and is on its way.

Later that night as you lie in your beds trying to sleep, you hear a splash in the water outside your cabin, like something being thrown overboard. Through the porthole in your cabin, you can just see a shape sinking in the water. You only caught a glimpse of it, but it could be the size of a human body. In the corner of your vision, you see a silhouette looking over the edge of the ship's deck, about ten feet above your porthole. The silhouette's head turns towards your porthole, and seems to look directly at you! Then, just as quickly as it appeared, it pulls away from the edge of the ship, disappearing from view.

Muharg grabs his 50 feet rope and ties one end around his waist. Hands the other end of it to Bjorn and says "Now fix it somewhere sturdy but make sure you don't lose grip on it in the process! Anyone, go on deck and try to figure out who did this!" Then yells at the top of his lungs "MAN OVERBOARD!!" Turns to the others and says "Keep yelling this until the crew starts with the rescue manoeuvre." Jumps into the water and starts swimming towards the sinking shape.

Athletics? 19

Muharg's words shake Bjorn from his initial shock. Grabbing the end of the rope passed to him, the goliath secures it to a sturdy mast. Then looping part of the rope around his waist, he takes hold of it in a firm grip "Rope's secure! I've got you!" he shouts back.

Strength Check: 11