Kay’s Journal, 11/27
- 272 + 150 GP
- 150 GP worth of gems
- Pouch of diamond dust (300gp, useable in a Resurrection spell)
- 1533 XP
After our night of zombie ‘goodness’, the ferry showed up the next morning, bright and early. The ferry can only take one wagon at a time, so there was some shuffling back and forth, but eventually everybody ended up on the far side of the lake.
Fathom checked the dagger a couple times, and it pointed to widely varying locations. First it seemed to point to the north shore of the lake we’re on, then farther south, more toward the center of the lake. Seems like something that can move pretty quickly over (or in?) the water has our target. Yay.
Abran and Gooseneck overhear some people talking about ‘the big freeze’ coming soon. Apparently, these lakes can freeze over, and very quickly, too. Mercury verifies that during the winter, the lakes can freeze over solidly enough to walk across. So, it sounds like we have to find something that can move real fast in the water, and that we have a pretty tight deadline to do it, to boot.
We’re going to need a boat.
Pujol, Abran, and Corncob go into the inn that’s right by the dock. Pujol wants to sell his cask of ‘medicinal’ mead. He talks to Marius, the innkeep. Marius tries the stuff, but wants to sleep on it. But, the three of them get free dinner out of it, at least.
Gooseneck, Fathom, and I stay outside and ask after Lyndon the boatman, who was recommended to us back in the last village. Lyndon is apparently at home sleeping off the previous night’s festival, but he’s expected to show up at the after party before too long. We make our way over to the square where some of the townsfolk are having a smaller celebration – they’ve got a fire where they are roasting a pig. Apparently, Lyndon will be showing up soon with ‘something good’.
Gooseneck asks about Canville, the local druid who made the prediction on when the ‘big freeze’ is coming. He lives nearby, but not in the village, unsurprisingly.
Corncob, Abran, and Pujol join us after securing a room at the inn. Lyndon shows up, and ‘something good’ turns out to be a cask of mead. His mead is much sweeter than the stuff Pujol bought. Turns out that mixing the two of them together makes a very tasty blend, and Pujol starts trying to sell the remainder of his cask to Lyndon.
Fathom asks Lyndon about any mythical creatures in the lake, and he says there aren’t any. There’s some dangerous wildlife around, sure, but nothing in the lake. Corncob asks him about Orcs, and Lyndon says the orcs don’t usually raid on this side of the lake, but occasionally they do. Apparently, he has heard of a single leader who has managed to gain devotion across tribes. This leader is less of a headman or political leader, and more like a religious figure.
Lyndon asks why we want to go out on the lake. Fathom tells him we’re looking for a family heirloom. Lyndon says we need a permit if we want to go pulling artifacts out of the lake. Pujol negotiates with Lyndon to get him to handle the paperwork, if we pay him a little extra and cover the cost of the permit. He’ll meet us in the morning.
We touch base with Mercury and Wils. They’ve finished selling off the goods from the wagons. Our cut is 272 GP – better than expected!
The party is winding down, so we head back to the inn. Fathom communes with her patron, and learns that the thing we’re looking for is a smooth, clear orb of glass or crystal with a reflection of an eye in it. It’s about the size of a cantaloupe.
The night passes quietly. Lyndon shows up early in the morning and tells us something is wrong at the mayor’s house. He says there’s an armed guard outside the house, keeping watch. That by itself is unusual. He didn’t get close enough to see much more, but he didn’t recognize the guards.
We head over to the mayor’s place. It’s on stilts in the water. It’s a pretty big, too – now we know what happens to all the permit fees. There’s a dwarven male on the roof with a bow, and a human and a half-orc talking on the docks on the back side of the house. None of them have seen us yet.
Before we approach, we find out from Lyndon that the mayor, his wife, and their two kids should be in the house.
Abran and I sneak to the other side of the house, while the rest of our group continue along the path to the house, in plain sight. The archer on the roof challenged them. Corncob spoke to him in Dwarven. The archer answered, but whatever the conversation was about, it doesn’t seem to have gone well as the group gave the signal to attack.
The half-orc ran out to the path and shot at Corncob, but missed. The one on the roof shot at Gooseneck, but also missed. Corncob cast a spell back at her.
Abran ran out of hiding and swung his sword at the half-orc. Pujol runs over to the fence to get cover. I shoot at the half-orc and hit him, while Gooseneck runs up to attack him. Fathom takes cover behind a tree and fires off a spell at the archer on the roof.
There’s some shouting, and the human comes around the corner of the house and shoots at Corncob, hits him. The archer on the roof fires at Gooseneck. It’s a good shot, and hits him solidly. The half orc swings back at Abran. It’s another good shot.
Corncob casts another spell at the archer on the roof, hits her again. Abran and the half-orc trade more blows, but not much comes of it. Pujol casts a spell…I’m not sure what it does, but the next time the arched on the roof fires, the line she was relying on to hold her up there…doesn’t. She falls into the lake, and we do not see her again.
Note to self: if picking a fight with Pujol, do it on the ground.
There’s some more back and forth, nicks and cuts on both sides. The human that was behind the house shouts inside to reinforcements.
Gooseneck kills the half-orc we’d been fighting. Then he runs up the ramp to the house. A woman comes out of the doorway and pleads with him to protect her. He buys it! But it doesn’t last. Corncob and Abran run up right after him. Corncob casts a spell at her and Abran shoots an arrow at her. As she falls, Gooseneck recovers from the spell she cast on him.
We go in and see a couple more brigands, including the human that had been outside, with the mayor, his wife, and their son tied up in front of them. They don’t seem inclined to fight further, though. They surrender. We free the mayor’s family, tie up the brigands, and take their stuff – some gold, and some gems.
The mayor is so thankful to us, he’s going to give us the permit, no fees and no questions asked. He's also going to allow us to use his house while we're here.
Pujol questions the brigands, but doesn’t get anywhere. Doesn’t matter, the town can deal with them however they usually deal with outlaws.
We search the dead brigands and find a few copper and a pouch filled with diamond dust that seems to be meant to be used as a spell component. Fathom and Corncob look at it, and it seems to be clerical in nature.
Well, now we've got our permit, so maybe we can find this magic lake orb before we get iced in.
