Persuasion: 14

"If yer looking for his best friend or worst enemy, I'm not either of them, he was a bit of a loner, 'cept when he was in his cups."

"a solitary vice, often seen as the safest, can be as dangerous as a social sin. would any have reason or means to poison his drinks?"

"Poison his... You've a dark mind, friend. I'm... I'm gonna go.", he says, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.

"I don't think that poison would be employed," Morn says shaking his head as he stands watching the villager leave, "I mean, think about it. If the man knew where a treasure horde was, would you not take him captive to lead you there rather than poison the one person that would know its location. Even if he did enjoy his ale, it sounds as though he were tight lipped enough not to spill the location of his find. We should get going."

"Very well."

Trinjya listened to to the conversation quietly. 

"That is a true thing you say there. Maybe someone did capture Freddie to force the location of the hoard out of him, so Freddie could still be here in town. Unfortunately, non of us seems to be in town long enough to know who could be bold enough to do something like this. And if we stay here and waste more time, this Freddie could die in the wilderness, or someone could find the treasure before we do. Considering all options, it seems to me that heading out to the marsh is our best chance to find either Freddie or the hoard. Also, I would lie if I said that I'm not curious about the terrfying lands that seem to surroundings this town."

"curious how he thought that poisons only kill..." samael shakes his head, "after all, succubi and incubi use potions and drugs to sedate their victims for torture, pleasure, and torturous pleasure.,"

"True enough," Morn nods at the mention of other uses for poisons, but then makes a sweeping gesture of the town, "But looking around here, these dark and dangerous surrounds, one simply look to the various townsfolk we've seen so far. I would not think poisons such as that would be in great supply. They are troublesome to brew and expensive to produce. It is possible, but for the sake of Frankie and time, I passed these possibilities in favour of more likely options. You are welcome to convince us otherwise, especially if you know something we do not, but I am inclined to agree with Trinjya, we need to make haste whichever path we take."

"i was not trying to delay you, and will follow your lead into the marshes. i was merely correcting a misapprehension." Samael readies his kit, and prepares for the journey into the Marshes of Madness.

((Anything else that the party wishes to procure or do before heading out?))

Horatio shivers and rubs his chin. 

"I think we still have most of the day before us - let's see how far we can go outside the city while we can. I get the feeling night is not a tremendously healthful time to be out and about, whether in the city or without."

"indeed"

As you gather yourselves to depart the city, you exit through the west gate. There is some amount of wagon and cart traffic, those rivermen operating along the river draining the Silver Marshes transporting goods into the city via carters and porters.

The Silver Marshes are a few days to the west and southwest of the town, according to the map you saw in the tavern. The options would seem to be striking overland through the woods, or following the river to the southwest.

"Hmm, perhaps we could ask one of the river men to take us to the marshes?" Morn says as he looks at the various travellers. "The river might be a quicker journey."

"and safer. who knows what lurks on the overland passes?"

There is a wagon heading out of the city in that direction, pulled by two mules, with a surly looking old man flicking the reins and spitting occasionally over the side.

"If Frankie traveled along the river, the rivermen might also remember him. A man missing a finger traveling the wilderness with a large dog alone, seems like something people would be gossiping about." 

If the cart look like it could take the group for a ride,(and if it doesn't seem to be slower than walking) Trinjya will approach the cart and smile at the driver.

"Good sir, you don't happen to be traveling to the river and could spare some space in your cart to give a young lady and her friends a ride, do you?"

Persuasion: 10 

(OOC: for some reason I don't have access to my character sheet, I can't remember what's my modifier for that but I think it was 6)

((It is indeed a +6. The share link to your sheet is in the first post of the ooc thread, but hopefully you are able to access it.))

"Yep. Headed that way. Hop on in."

The cart takes you to the river, and you get out, seeing the wide, slow river moving past on its way to the ocean. There are a number of flat bottomed vessels, and some smaller ones that can be operated by one or two people on paddles or oars. The aroma is that of decayed vegetation, nothing too rank, but about what you might expect on a slow moving river connecting a marsh to the sea.

perception: 10