Day
2 on the BoatIn the morning, the group make their way, somewhat bleary eyed, onto the deck in time to see that the boat is just steaming into the confluence with the Rauvin and turning now westward, leaving the Surbrin behind. On the south bank, where the Rauvin meets the Surbrin, a camp of 20 Riders of Nesmé greets you, but the Riders also shake their heads, as if to indicate that the boat passengers are all ravaging idiots. One of the riders shouts, "So, I see you finally found some victims, Graasz! Good luck to all of you. You'll need it! No man's land starts here."
Graasz returns an unfriendly look back to the men in the marsh and shouts, "We'llsendyougreetingsfromSilverymoontrollsniffer!"
The man laughs less now. "I hope so Graasz," he shouts. "But I wonder ..."
Graasz ignores the remark, as the boat steams out of earshot. He says rather proudly, "We'remakinggreattime. IfyouweregettingupinacampwiththeRidersthismorning,you'dstillhavetorideanother15to20miles,justtoreachwherewearenow."
This seems to be another uneventful day, though the weather is not quite as good as the previous day. Clouds cover the sun most of the time, but it remains relatively warm (about 12-13 degrees at the high point), and with all the flowers on the river banks, it is almost easy to forget that you are in the heart of the Savage Frontier.
Graasz is again at the wheel and Nardl is keeping his eyes open for enemies that don't seem to be anywhere in sight. Rolfr and Gilkjr are sleeping. The boat appears to be pretty well tuned now, and the gnomes seem to leave most of the knobs and levers alone. There are no more piles of ashes and bones on the edge of the moor, since the point where the Riders of Nesmé patrol has been passed. Other than that, the moor hasn't changed, but the view to the north is entirely different from what it was at sunset yesterday evening. Within 20 yards or so of the Rauvin, the grass remains green and lush with spring flowers pushing up through it, but the grassland north of there slopes slightly uphill, and the land looks dry. The grasses are wiry, the plain relatively open and the occasional brush and trees more isolated from one another. Starting about 12 miles north of the river, mountains appear, that become higher and higher as they fade into the horizon. It is a wonderful view.
The only action before the noon hour is a brief sighting of half a dozen riders or so atop a small hill in the rough grasslands about three miles away to the north. Graasz looks in their direction with his eyeglass glass. "Barbarians" he says. "SkyPonies,Ithink,butIcan'tmakeouttheirsymbolwellfromhere. Theboyslookalittleagitated. Idon'thinktheylikemyboat. Look!They'rerunningaway." As he speaks, the riders disappear off the far side of the hill.
In the early afternoon, Nardl shouts out to Graasz, "Hey,lookhere! Alargeschoolofbutcherfish. Ihaven'tseenthosesinceweleftLantan.Ididn'tknowtherewerebutcherfishintheRauvin."
Graasz ties the wheel in position and looks over the rail. "That'swhattheyareallright.Well,wedidn'tplantogoswimminganyway."
He points the fish out to the party. There is a school of several hundred fast-darting orange fish with grey stripes, all about a foot long, circling around the boat. This is the first time any of the party have ever seen such fish.
<Herod aka Scott wrote>:
> Herod will take a definite interest in both the
> barbarians and the butcherfish. He asks,
> "Graasz, what exactly are butcher fish?"
<Yvandel aka Sebastian wrote>:
> "What did you call them," Yvandel asked Nardl,
> hoping to get to know the gnome a little better,
> "Butcherfish? I take it they can be dangerous,
> even to human beings?"
Nardl answers for Graasz, "Ifyouseebutcherfish,don'tgointothewater!Thosefishcanstripyourbonesbareinlessthantwominutes!Theirteetharelikerazors!"
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> <If no one objects, Luc will attempt to spear
> one of the fish...
Lucretia spends about 10 minutes, leaning over the side of the boat hurling his spear into the water and pulling it back before he finally manages to spear one of the fish. He pulls it up onto the deck, where it writhes around for a while, it's wicked looking jaws snapping as it gasps it's last. Dodger can't resist, and pulls at Cleo's leash (OOC: Unless otherwise said, I will assume he is leashed all the time), desperate to go have a look at the fishy smelling thing flopping around on the deck.
<Cleo aka Mike M wrote>:
> Luc can hear the heaves as he straps up and
> readies to go hunting. This time, there is a chunk
> or two. The moment they hit the water the fish
> start feeding and heading toward her hurlings...
(OOC: Looks like I may have to start making XP awards for "most graphic description" :-) I take it Cleo rolled her own CON saving throw and failed badly huh??? )
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> <Lucretia will be careful not to let
> these little beast bite him...keeping
> them at spear length and cutting the
> heads off with his short sword....he
> will flays them and use the waste to
> draw in more fish to spear...if there
> is a way to boil water on the boat he
> will use the remainder of the day to
> boil the teeth that he will carefully
> remove from each of the fish he catches.
> "I'm going to clean them up and sell
> them." <If anyone asks.> <He will take
> the time on cleaning the first one...
> looking for any type of poison gland
> and will ask the gnomes or Ceely if
> they know if the things are poisonous
> or good to eat.>
OOC: Neither the Gnomes nor Ceely know about the eating of the fish, but Graasz does confirm that they definitely don't have a poisonous bite... merely a vicious one. Lucretia attests to that when he manages to slice his finger on the teeth of the dead fish he is gutting (OOC: not a bad cut - just enough to remind Lucretia why he is not a fisherman by trade - chance for Ceely to show him the right way to gut a fish etc :). (OOC: the teeth aren't big enough to extract singly - but you could cut the jaws out whole when dissecting the fish. Lucretia does some more "fishing" and eventually manages to catch 4 more fish before the boat leaves the school of fish behind and he runs out of targets.
Now and then throughout the day, groups of riders are spotted far to the north, but even with the help of Graasz's glass, it's impossible to make out any details about them. There are no signs of trolls on the moor during the day, but in the time between sunset and darkness, groups of trolls are spotted deeper in the moor, seemingly tracking the boat's progress from the distance. And the decaying, sweet smell of troll always lingers in the air as the usual night moor fog starts to gather.
<Serena aka Archon wrote>:
> Although the bunk was made for only one
> person, Serena found that it could
> accommodate two in a pinch. She slipped
> in next to the warrior, and burrowed down
> under the covers with him.
OOC: Well, I guess Lucretia got lucky after all! Not an area I had mentioned before, but it would have been likely that a certain amount of sharing of cabin space would have taken place - however, I think it is the post was such a "worthwhile event" that it is worth it for me to re-design the boat to make sure that everyone DID manage to get separate cabins :-)