Boating Down the Vuchar

General Summary

You boarded a riverboat, the Laughing Maiden, which was headed to Maykle. The journey was going to take three or four days, depending on how the currents treated you, with a stopover in a small town called Tenebris to pick up a shipment (the Maiden was carrying food to the Boglands in the heart of Darkon, since the Boglands are about as good for agriculture as it sounds like they’d be).   Crew of the Maiden you’ve met:
Captain Yarrow, good cop. Paranoid about disease; his crew contracted bog fever a while back, and while they didn’t lose anyone, it knocked them out for weeks. (According to Rose’s Knowledge Nature, bog fever is widely considered to be insect-borne and shouldn’t be an issue until you get to the Boglands.) He seemed to think that Hadwick, the sickly old man, had the Crimson Death, but it's not clear whether that's because he actually thought it or because the Crimson Death is the best possible way to shut down conversation in Darkon.
Tala, the first mate, bad cop. Seems competent but entirely mercenary; convinced Yarrow to let Hadwick on for an extra fee, and Rose's Sense Motive suggested that she cared much more about the simple fact of getting the extra money than about the principle of making sure they were compensated for the risk. Seems excited by the thought of having Rose and her druid abilities onboard, but it's a practical "this seems like a useful set of skills" excitement, not an "oh boy let's sell her to the highest bidder" excitement.
Mouser,  a large ratting dog who clearly doesn't like Vanya. Rose hasn't talked to him yet.
Passengers of the Maiden you've met (you haven't officially been introduced to any of them, but you may have heard their names bandied about at dinner and names save us from "that elf, that other elf, and that other elf"). Since you're coming out of the most solemn day on the Darkonian calendar and Nevuchar Springs has two holy sites, you're the only passengers who aren't pilgrims returning home.
Hadwick, a sickly old human man. He and his daughter were on pilgrimage to Nevuchar Springs and are heading home to Maykle. He hasn't been well enough to leave his room.
Amaryllis, his daughter. Vanya spoke to her and she explained that they were heading home from a pilgrimage that they hoped would heal him; Vanya could tell she was hiding something.
Lythir Nightshade, Darian Thronbrook, and Elewyn Starshine, three elves coming back from a pilgrimage to The Mother Tree; Rose had seen them in passing, but hadn't spoken to them at length.
Ludlow Thimblestock and Jerrin Summerfield, two halflings coming back from a pilgrimage to see Bastion Teodorus Raines preach at the Church of Ezra; Vanya had seen them in the church but hadn't spoken to them. They both had large, heavy sacks. From the way the sacks moved, they seemed to contain several onion-sized objects pillowed by a whole lot of rice-sized objects.
You set sail, and the day passed fairly uneventfully. Vanya played for everyone at dinner and now they're quite charitably disposed toward him.
That night, Rose heard a few rats skittering around and what sounded like one truly enormous rat in the cabin next to yours.
Vanya dreamed that Julien came to him and told him that he was okay. Julien said that he didn't think they'd be able to scry him for long, because the Skurra face paint would stop him from being himself. Vanya said that made him sad, and Julien said that if he wasn't himself then he wouldn't be his father's son anymore; Vanya said that it still made him sad because that was part of who Julien was, which made Julien (and possibly the GM) cry. Julien also explained that Isolde had told him that if he went with her, she would make hm forget something; he didn't know what it was, because he'd forgotten it, only that he'd really, really wanted to forget it. He also said that she'd told him Rose and Vanya would be safer if he wasn't there, although when Vanya pointed out that they clearly wouldn't be Julien admitted that he was right. Vanya assured Julien that they were coming for him and then woke up and told Rose.

Related Reports

Previous session: Kidnapped by Circus Folk!

Report Date

08 Feb 2024

Primary Location

Darkon