While we are still at Brooks, CornCob asks if the bouncy castle comes with furnishings. It does not. Further, if we put stuff in there and collapse the castle, it will eject whatever was in there.
We decide to think about it for a while. In the meantime, we go check out the noises at the warehouse. We hear people talking about how crates should be arranged. Gooseneck charges in to the warehouse. He sees a lot of movement as people move around crates and chests. It looks like a wagon full of stuff just got delivered and they are trying to make space for it – getting it in its own space, separate from the other things. The other stuff is similarly arranged in to separated piles. It looks very disorganized. The crates appear to be mostly from ships, but a few come from inland. One of the crates definitely looks damaged; that could have been the crashing we heard.
Gooseneck says we heard the crash and came to check it out and offer aid. The warehouse manager apologizes for the noise, but says he has it under control. He asks everybody’s names; Gooseneck tells him. The warehouse manager is Johan. He asks if we have goods in the warehouse, or if the Silver Swan has goods to store.
Gooseneck asks about hiring crew. Johan becomes visibly uncomfortable and says he can’t help with that; most people go to the Jagged Blade to hire crew. Pujol has Gooseneck ask if there is any cargo from the Starfish or the Bloody Anchor. The Bloody Anchor hasn’t been there for a long time. They did offload some cargo when they were here last, but didn’t store it here. The Starfish mostly deals in foodstuffs.
We go to the hot springs. It’s a little bit of a trek to get there. The jungle is still very natural, lots of typical jungle creatures, but it’s very well-travelled. Gooseneck and I see someone patrolling the path, so clearly the place is guarded. Nothing would go completely unnoticed here. I see where the path veers off to go to the tent city.
We see two people at the springs. One greets us, says it’s been quiet there recently – not many people coming. She’s Margaret, and is making stew. I look around with the goggles, and don’t see anything that stands out.
The second person, a young woman, comes out from behind some rocks. She’s carrying something in a big leaf which she takes to Margaret.
Gooseneck goes and sticks his feet in the water. It smells a bit of sulfur, and is quite hot, maybe 107, 108 degrees. He doesn’t see anything in the water. It’s clear, and deeper in the center. The edges are maybe knee deep, but the center is probably deeper than Gooseneck is tall. Fathom also sticks her feet in the water.
Abran is uncomfortable; he stays on the periphery and looks for animals. CornCob looks for trails, he sees a couple of paths. One leads to where Margaret is making stew, and past that to the tent city. The second goes off in the opposite direction. Neither go by the log where people would store their stuff.
Nobody sees any mammals here (apart from ourselves). Plenty of little lizards and amphibians, though. Pujol talks to one of the smarter looking lizards, and asks it if this is a safe place. The lizard thinks it is! Also, there are good scraps.
Abran patrols. He finds some tracks that concern him – it looks like a large wild boar; following those tracks, he gets to a spot where a bush has been uprooted. It looks like something grabbed the boar and dragged it away. He thinks this happened yesterday. It looks like the boar got dragged away from the town or tent city. He circles back to the springs and tells us he wants to go fight whatever dragged the boar off.
CornCob suggests that Abran ask one of the attendants about it. Abran does. Margaret says the heard some large creature sounds in the jungle yesterday, but did not investigate. Probably because there was a large creature out there, and it’s known that there are large predators around. So far, people who have gone hunting for them don’t come back, or come back empty handed. But few bother, as the creatures don’t generally bother humans.
Abran asks Margaret where she lives – in the tent city. He asks if there’s anything or anyone to look for. He says we’re looking for crew, and asks if she knows anything about slaads. She doesn’t, and asks if they are land creatures. Abran says that’s a question for the demonic Fathom.
Gooseneck asks the ladies if they remember the two guys who became slaad. Margaret remembers them well; they were brothers and lived in the tent city. They helped hunt for game. She remembers them as being very cleanly. Gooseneck asks if she could show up where they lived in the tent city. She says their tents are still there, but occupied by others now.
It gets on toward evening. Nobody else comes to the hot springs today. Gooseneck eats some of the crew – definitely boar.
We go with them to the tent city. CornCob asks where they got the boar for the stew. They had set snares.
On the way to the tent city, it falls oddly silent. A large shadow looms above us, leaning down slowly. There’s a massive shape coming toward the center of the group – it’s a big dinosaur.
Gooseneck runs to grab Pujol and Fathom and get them out of the way. Abran shoots at it, hits, then takes cover behind a stone column. Pujol polymorphs it into a hedgehog – which works – and then goes and picks it up.
Margaret shows us the way to a large lava crevasse. Pujol uses Mage Hand to drop the hedgehog into the crevasse. Half an hour later, when the polymorph wears off, we hear a hedgehog squeal turn into a large lizard roar. Then, a mangled dinosaur head pops out. It’s not dead, but it’s damaged. We finish it off and then head to the tent city.
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