Session 27: Learning to Read

General Summary

Having completed their tasks and collected their rewards, the party returned to the Steel Hook to relax, celebrate, and prepare themselves to leave the next day. They spoke to Roald, who offered to help find them passage back to Eastbridge and their guildhall. Roald pointed out that the quickest route would be to travel along the Myrloch and then down the river, however, most ships avoid sailing along the Myrloch due to the proximity of fey in Myrloch Vale. However, the alternate route involved sailing out along the bay for a couple days and then making landfall and traveling for several days over land to reach Eastbridge. The river pass, though less traveled, would only take two to three days.   After deciding to take the river, Roald introduced the party to one of the few Captains who travels the river and has had remarkable successes at avoiding conflict. He introduced the party to Harek Jurundson, captain of a traveling cog called the Serpent’s Spittle. Harek was a Northlander who offered the party passage to Eastbridge, offering a discounted rate if the party agreed to help clean and crew the ship. Tiarjead approached him afterward, offering his crew a round of drinks and asked what made their journeys so successful. Harek claimed that he has a good-luck charm that has kept them safe in traveling the loch and informs the party that they need to be ready at dawn, as they will be setting sail shortly after.   Tertius spent part of the evening helping Levi learn to read, but as he helped Levi sound out the words “pulsating manhood”, the party quickly informed them that the book might be a little advanced for the lesson. Tertius then excitedly told Levi that he had books at home that he read all the time as a child and he could share them with Levi and help him. The books are the “Horse Babysitter” books, but the exciting part of the books isn’t that there are people babysitting horses, but rather that the horses ARE the babysitters. He also tells Levi that he named Strawberry after Strawberry Sparkleshine, who, while not the main character, is by far the best character.   In the morning, the party heads to the ship and boards it. Tertius pays Harek a bit of extra coin to get a private room instead of joining the others in sleeping in the galley below decks. The party helped with the ship’s needs, though Illeveare grew very ill at sea travel. Despite being ill, Illevaere noticed something moving in the water in the distance before the crew did and Alma, a human woman with white hair and a young face who had remained at the cog’s bow, moved to the side of the ship where the creature was spotted and it soon disappeared. Harek informed the crew that Alma was their “good-luck charm” and kept them safe in their travels. While most of the party was put on cleaning duty, Levi was put in charge of cooking the meals and Bolvaic asked to learn about the rigging and sails of the cog.   Levi spoke with Alma briefly, but she remained very aloof and distant. As the party’s shift of working ended, Harek invited Levi to his quarters for a drink. There, he poured both of them glasses of port and spoke to Levi about bestial natures. Levi was reluctant to both drink and to divulge information, even as Harek claimed to understand what Levi was. After leaving the cabin, Levi informed Bolvaic of the conversation and his concern that perhaps he was infected by Wren, though he did not think that was likely.   The party aided the crew in keeping watch during the night and there were sights of the same creature in the waters of the loch. The crew went and woke Alma who moved to the side of the cog and the creature eventually lost interest in the ship. Levi had heard Alma singing softly as she looked out over the water and she casually dismissed the sighting as the nereid scouting the area. Once the creature was gone, Alma returned to bed.   The party continued to aid the ship in the second day of travel and they made their way out of the loch and into the river, where the waters tend to be more predictable, though the crew still talked of stories of creatures along the river that caused problems, including a horse that when someone touched, their hand stuck to it and the horse ran into the water and drowned the man who could not get free.   Despite the stories, however, travel went well and swiftly and the party was going to near the League around dusk. Surveying the area, Harek was able to drop anchor and get the party to shore near the guild, rather than dropping them off in Eastbridge. They party disembarked and returned to the guild hall.   At the guild, they found Reggie was there. He informed the party that Levi, Rieta, and Kaal had all returned to the guild and that the Duke’s men had come and invited them to Eastbridge to send them on a mission. Reggie assumes that it went well as the trio departed together. The party was naturally suspicious of who this other Levi was, and assumed that it was a creation of the hags of the bog–Levi had offered the hags “a word for a word”, but had also given them a book given to him by his grandfather.   Tertius hurried out to the stables to check on Strawberry, making certain that Kaal returned him unharmed. Reggie also showed the party the pumpkins that were left—he saved them and did not interfere with them, assuming that Illeveare would want them. The older pumpkin was beginning to rot and there was a knife stuck in it with a note that read “dead” misspelled in crude Draconic. The second pumpkin was fresher and had a knife in it with a note that read “soon” in Draconic. Illeveare was pleased with the free pumpkins.   Just then there was a crash that rattled the guild’s walls and Tertius rushed back into the guild. He informed the party that Strawberry was safe, but there were others outside. The party stepped out of the guild and saw a familiar kobold taunting them in the distance. There was a crude catapult manned by two kobolds ahead and kobolds with torches surrounded the guild. The kobold cackled that he had brought their doom and destruction to their home and the party saw the silhouette of a black dragon flying overhead in the moonlight.