Nature:21 Survival:15 Investigation:7

Bjorn shakes his head, "It is as Qinfaren said. These seem to be claw marks, but from what creature I do not know. Other than our friend here," the goliath indicates Shadow, "We have seen no other clawed creatures. Perhaps for now we just have to stay vigilant till the next time it tries something like this again, or at least until we find out what or who was thrown over board."

Qinfaren looks over at Muharg's question.

"Just a story I heard once," Qinfaren starts. "A ghost story really a friend told after several ales at the summer solstice gathering last year. There's a creature that can take on the shape of another. In the story, this creature had long claws on its hands."

He pauses, trying to remember the name.

"Doppleganger."

He shrugs and looks over at the crew.

"If no one is missing, that could mean someone was still killed and just replaced."

Then he looks back to the others and raises his eyebrows.

"Of course, we could just be on a ship crewed by wererats. I've always wanted to meet one of those."

"Hmm," Shad looks at Qinfaren and the others. "Not a Tabaxi, smaller than me, thrown over?" He glances down at the icy water, shiny in the dark moonlight. "What is something we all know, my fellow couriers, that that a doppleganger would not? A cypher among just us. To confirm we are ourselves, should we have the need."

Qinfaren thinks for a moment, pondering what Shad has said

”How about the name of the first drink we shared?” he suggests.

He looks around carefully to see if anyone is listening, then he leans in closer to the others.

”Neverwinter Ale,” he manages to say in an actual whisper.

Then he wistfully thinks about how nice it would be to have one now.

Most of the crew have gone below deck now returning to their cabins. The only crew remaining are those who are carrying duties throughout the night. All is quiet again as you stand in the cold night air under the starry night.

Having investigated the incident you have made some theories as to what has happened. Though the captain of the ship is nowhere in sight having returned to his quarters.

Clawed doppelgangers? Wererats? Arogna shivers, though her outfit is plenty warm enough.  "Rather be in a tavern", she mutters, trying to remember the name of the drink."Sleep with your knives near at hand."

DM Note: Unless anyone wants to do anything else. I am thinking of summarising the next couple of days until until your first delivery.

Muharg listens to Qinfaren’s story with a mix of concern and amazement in his eyes “Doppelgängers... Heard of them but never thought I’d actually be involved in anything that had to do with them...”

Then adjusts his belt and straightens his posture “I hate to go to bed like this,” grunts “but it seems we’ve hit a dead end for tonight”. Nods at Arogna’s suggestion and rests his hand on the battle axe on his belt. "Neverwinter Ale it is" Whispers to himself.

"Neverwinter Ale," Shad whispers to himself again and again. He takes Arogna's advice literally, curled in his coats in his hammock, a sheathed dagger in each hand.

The following morning you report to the captain, who introduces himself as Silvermane, what you have discovered about the incident. Unfortunately, he does not believe you. Even when he goes and examins the marks himself, he is in disbelief about them being claw marks. Shortly afterwards, he begins his own investigation by speaking to his crew. However, it quickly becomes apparent that he is not that familiar with his own crew. And his investigation leads him nowhere.

Over the followng days, the temperature gets colder as you continue north. The days also seem shorter and darker. The mood of the crew and other mercenaries becomes sourer as a result of the weather, and in part due to the on going investigation.

Just before arriving at Fireshear, bits of seaborne ice drift past the Icebreaker. They break the otherwise dull view of the sea, reaching up from below the surface like giant fingers reaching towards the ship and the sky. Then Lennart comes and finds you and arranges a meeting.

"Tomorrow we will dock at Fireshear. This is the first detination on our route. And I want you lot to deliver the first package. This is the letter that the Black Spider wanted you to deliver to Griggle Duskloch. Now since this is your first delivery, I am going to give you the best approach to completing your task.

The first step, generally speaking, is go and find the person in charge of the village, town, or city. They will at the very least be able to point you in the next direction to go looking for the receipient. They might be able to provide you with a map. They may even know who you are looking for and know where to find the recipient, if you are lucky. Though that is normally if it's a town or smaller. In cities you are more likely to given a map.

As it is Fireshear is a town, with around fifteen-thousand people, half are which are dwalves, and most of the rest are humans. At least that's what the town was like the last time I was here, and I doubt it would have changed much since.

The second step is to follow up with your lead. Now your lead might just be a map, in which case it is useful to check the taverns. They are often familiar with the locals, and in cities, you normally find at least one tavern per district. So by going to the taverns, you should eventually narrow down the area to search for the recipient. On the other hand, if you were given directions then it best that you follow them.

The third step, once you have narrowed down you search area, is to politely ask the locals. Now they might not be happy to meet talking to strangers, and that is something you have to accept. People can be very mistrusting. You would be wise to choose those who don't seem to be in a rush or otherwise too busy, and remember to be polite.

The last step, when you have found the recipient, is to approach them in a friendly manner. Tell them why you have come looking for them, and deliver the packace straight away without any fuss.

Do you have any questions?

Arogna shakes her head, with a wide grin on her face. "Understood." The grin has been in place since Lennart explained the second step, in which the group visit all the taverns. You suspect she did not really take in the subsequent steps.

Qinfaren pulls the cold weather clothing tightly about his body, while blowing his breath up in little puffs of condensed vapor. He watches each one as it quickly disappears.

While the first day on the ship was amusing and interesting, Qinfaren quickly grew tired of the monotony of it all and the lack of plants and animals on board. Though he did try talking to a few of the ships rats. While they listened politely they really didn't seem to take his requests to investigate the late night dumping too seriously. They mostly just squeaked and brought him back little crumbs they found in the galley.

He is definitely ready to get on to dry land.

"Visit all the taverns, deliver the letter, and come back to the ship," he says. "Got it. Now, are their any interesting sites to see while we're here? A nice winter garden perhaps?"

"Make sure you visit the leader first," replies Lennart. "As for the sights to see in Fireshear, well there's always the site of the meteor strike."

Qinfaren perks up at he mention of a meteor strike. He smiles and rubs his hands together.

"Shall we go?" he asks the others. "Perhaps the dockmaster can guide us to this leader."

Muharg smiles to Qinfaren "Once we are finished with our duty, I don't see why not. Unless the parcelmaster specifies time is of the essence, of course."

Turns towards Lennard "Understood, sir. Just one question: shall we be receiving payment by the recipient of each parcel?"

@TheBritGeek

Shad has tucked himself deep within his winter clothes and wears both his hoods, one on the other. He hops slightly to stay warm. "Find the leader of the town, follow their lead whether map or directions, ask the locals if necessary, and be polite when delivering the package. Doesn't sound too bad!"

He has spent most of the trip hovering around the main mast, looking at the sky rather than the water. At first the bits of floating ice were interesting, because they were water you could hold onto and not drown, but then he discovered how cold they are. Much less interesting.

"Understood. Sounds straight forward enough." Bjorn nods in acknowledgement to Lennart.

He chimes in to the conversation, "We will need to visit the taverns to look for leads anyway. I'm sure we can have a drink or two while we are there. After all alcohol loosens tongues."