While Riley, Erijay and Eazam recovered from their near
death experience, discussion around the tavern table revolved around what to do
next. General consensus was they could use a break from Stonehell. Then Riley
recalled a rumor he and Turrick had heard earlier, about boats running under
the bridge over the Valen River. They were running the bridge late at night,
and not responding to the hails of the guards at the bridge gate. Interest
piqued, Rylee, Kern, Lorek and Erijay headed down to the bridge to question the
guards. The guards confirmed the tale, noting it usually happened around the
new moon and had been going on for a few months. The guards noted that the
Masked Council of Three was not pleased, as the town was losing the 10% tariff levied
on goods passing the bridge.
Armed with this information, the four headed for the Black
Nobel Nymph and Staff tavern to talk with the Council. They found the three councilmen,
in black robes and masks, dealing with various civic and criminal matters. Done
their duties, the three removed masks and sat down to their cups. Rylee had the
serving wench bring the councilmen some fine dwarven brandy, and after a few moments
one of the council beckoned them over. The four discussed the issue of the
boats with the councilman Anfor, and worked out a deal with the politician. The
four would try to track down the identity of the boats, recover any goods being
smuggled past the town, keeping half the cargo for themselves in payment. For
his part, Anfor would supply a river boat and crew.
Deal made, the band hastily hired a pair of men at arms
(Largesh and Narmor), then headed for Anfor’s private dock and boathouse to
meet the helmsman, Gundar, and crew. After
Gundar made clear who was in charge of the boat (Gundar) and what role beyond working
the boat he and his men would play (none), they prepared to intercept the mystery
boats, as tonight was the new moon. Soon, the guards on the bridge signaled that
a boat was approaching, and once it passed the docks, Gundar put his crew in motion
and moved into mid-stream to follow. Dawn found the mystery boat pulling into a
small creek flowing from the Marsh of Whispering Mists, while Gundar put his
boat into the rushes a few hundred feet behind. Kern now moved forward stealthy
on the bank to see what was happening. He saw the crew, a mix of rowers and
armed men, being directed by a red headed woman in stained travelling clothes towards
a campsite away from the boat. After some time, most had moved off into the
mist, leaving a handful of grumbling men to guard the boat and cargo. The cargo remained under wraps, so Kern could
see only that the boat was loaded to the gunnels and low in the water.
Listening to the men, he also learned another boat was expected at some point,
so he rushed back to the rest of the group to decide what to do next.
After much discussion, the four and the men at arms crept
back to the edge of the creek. Erijay then cast her Sleep spell, dropping the guards into slumber. Largesh was sent running back to fetch Gundar
and the boat, while the rest crossed the creek and hog tied and gagged the
sleeping guards. When Gundar arrived, they ran a line to the mystery boat,
loaded the sleeping guards aboard, and started to pull her from shore. Unfortunately,
they were not quiet enough, and as they began to pull away, the rest of the mystery
boats crew began running out of the mist. The rowers tried to circle around to
cut off the boats before they reached deep water. The rest fired a rain of
arrows, and the red headed women started casting spells. While it was a close
run thing, the band did escape with the boat, cargo and prisoners.
In short order they discovered the cargo consisted of scale
mail and polearms. Separating one prisoner form the other, a mix of threat and
promise was used to find out what was going on. The prisoner, Breen, told them the
boat was running arms and armour down to the ruins of Nasper, where they were being
turned over the a group of hobgoblins. He and the others had been hired for the
job in the city of Kingsford by the red headed lady, Alia. Breen didn’t know
exactly what the hobgoblins were up to or who was sending the supplies, but he
was pretty sure his captors would be sorry for getting in the middle of it and
that he wanted to get as far away from them as possible. That was arranged, as
the four stuffed a bag of gold into Breen’s hands, and then proceeded to dump
him overboard to swim for shore.
Back in Westmist, they split the cargo with Anfor, while the
three prisoners were tried and executed by being turned to stone in the town
square. The party was also sent to the March Baron, Lord Merdwyn, to tell their
story. Much worried, the Baron asked that the party find out what they could in
the ruins of Nasper, offering some supplies and men at arms to assist them. They
also bargained a house and freedom of the town out of the distracted baron in
the process.
Preparing for the journey into the Untamed Lands, they were surprised
to find the river boat they had stolen was no ordinary boat. It was in fact
magical, and could be changed from a river boat to row boat to box by using the
appropriate command words engraved on the gunnels. The four also found time to celebrate their success.
In the process, Erijay had a bit too much lotus and brandy, and tried putting
to moves on some mysterious stranger of uncertain gender and race. Whoever it
was, the stranger was not impressed by the elf’s advances, and tired to turn
Erijay into a pig. It must have been the booze, as the enchantment had no
effect, and the elf maid awoke the next morning with nothing more than a bad hangover.
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