Tales of Ikhorus

[Styrium]

After finishing the rest of the so called 'sushi', you walk the couple of streets that separate the tavern from the main square, where the Guards Quarters are located. Making your way inside the badly-kept building, you find that most of the makeshift infirmary is mostly gone, as only a few beds remain. Not noticing the captain outside you are pointed to a small side room where a halfling stands behind what you imagine to be wooden desk, although only piles of papers are all you can see.

When the four of you walk inside, the middle aged man with bushy sideburns looks up from the paper he was reading and arches an eyebrow. "Oh, you are the ones who rescued the witch and the other from the urodelus tribe, yes. How can I be of service?"

 

[Abrahms]

Walking with the group, Barost couldn't help but glance at the statue still in the plaza, his earlier irritation returning as his fingers sparked.

Entering inside he bowed his head slightly towards the man. "We're likely to be headed outta town soon, but had a few things we wanted to ... say? Ask? Inform on?" He paused before shaking his head, "While we didn't rescue the people for a reward, we did wonder if there was anythin' offered for our time and risk. Not a major concern, just thought we'd ask. Secondly, the missin' fishermen. Pretty sure we've figured that out, but I'm not convinced we've entirely solved it. Have ya ever heard of 'kelpies'? It seems there was at least one hanging around th' docks and finding the fishermen to be tasty meals. We killed one earlier today, but I'm not sure there aren't more in the lake."

 

[Styrium]

The captain shifts in his seat to a more formal posture. "Yes, of course. The Iron Guards are happy to compensate those that fight the many monsters that lurk outside the reach of civilization. According to my guards..." He sorts through his many papers, reading from one of them. "So, the price for the hunting and a bonus for rescuing the prisoners you all would stand at 24 gold pieces." The halfling walks up to a safe that stands on the corner of the room and picks up a pouch, he opens it and takes out a few coins. "This should cover it," he says while dropping the coin pouch on top of the tallest paper pile "About those 'keplie' you mentioned, it's a nice heads up. However, I have never heard of them and as such will request aid to the few scholars that still reside in this village. If they are indeed the ones that were causing the fisher's disappearances, Dewfall, once again, thanks you for your service."

 

[Wookie Nookie]

"Yeah scholars are a good bet. They don't taste half bad if you ever kill one. I recommend the sushi." Garret chuckles at his own joke obviously he is feeling better after his near death experience.

Taking a peek down at the paperwork, Garret sees nothing of interest. "Well, we are going to take another peak around the docks, make some preparations. You can leave word for us at the glowing driftwood if you need help with anything."

Garret begins strumming his lute as he walks out the door. Softly singing a sea shanty... time to go shopping, he thinks to himself.

 

[Styrium]

The captain waves to you as you all leave, diving back to the piles and more piles of paperwork he was working through.

Then, you leave the Guards Quarters and make your way to the lakeside docks, stopping by the local shop to buy some supplies. Once on the lake, you notice that not much has changed since you left this place not even two hours earlier, as most of the fishers are still on their working hours. Yet again, you follow the narrow, curving street that leads to the warehouse and the repair dock. When the space opens up to the small square you battled on earlier today, it's still possible to see the puddles of water left behind after the water creature was killed and the lone docked boat, still on the very same spot.

 

[Wookie Nookie]

Eyeing the boat, "I've only been out a couple times fishing, and that boat isn't going to give us much room to maneuver if attacked. Barost how are you feeling about this?"

It seems the earlier near death experience has taught him some manner of caution. That or the logical elven side was finally showing through...

 

[Abrahms]

Barost circled the small boat, tapping his chin, "Hmm ... feelin' pretty good if'm honest. I get restless on the land for too long, and this boat is actually in pretty good shape, considerin'." The fellow half-elf grinned, "Scared of some water?" He messed with the necklace he had collected from the creatures before, "Don'tcha think the Current will guide us?" Behind his back he twisted his fingers, muttering under his breath as the water around the boat started to move and shift.

 

[RuneRW]

Kaesalor stares at the boat in silence, trying to accomodate himself to the idea of riding it into the lake. "I'm... not sure what would we accomplish with that small boat but if you think it'll help these people out then you can count on me." After a short pause, he adds "If it's any good, I can try and focus to spot magic for about... 10 minutes or so."

 

[Abrahms]

"I'm hopin' we can make sure there's no more kelpie out there -- at least while we're here ... can't promise another one won't move in," replied Barost as he started to move the small boat into water, waiting for the rest to hop in as well. He glanced up at the tall firbolg with a smile, "Oh really now? That sounds pretty useful, too bad we ate th' other one, coulda' maybe seen if it glowed ... maybe you'll spot somethin' in the lake an' I can swim down to get it." Standing next to the boat, Barost muttered to himself for a moment as he fiddled with his earring, soon a faint layer of sparks began to move across his form as he pulled off his boots and placed them into the vessel.

He clapped his hands together with a grin, "Shall we?"

 

[Styrium]

The group places the boat on the water and start rowing away from the shore, going towards the middle of the lake. Around you, many fishers are still busy on their respective boats as well as the fishes that swim by every once in a while. While you row, the four pairs of eyes look below the surface, as deep as the early-afternoon sun allows you to, trying to find any unnatural masses of algae or anything that might reflect the sunlight and catch your eyes. After the best part of an hour, you row around the lake and gather that if there is a kelpie, it's nowhere to be found. However, this time was not a complete waste, as you found a few things sparkling among the muddy floor of Lake Tharrus.

 

[RuneRW]

Among the things brought up by Barost, Kaesalor spotted a leatherbound book that glowed thanks to his simple magic-detection spell. "There's something magical about that book. Abjuration... I think is what you would call it. Might be a simple protective spell that kept it intact but it might be so much more."

 

[Abrahms]

Guided by Kaesalor, Barost dove a few times, bringing up the respetive items each time -- a handful of coins, a vial of sealed ink, a ring with gemtones, and a strangely fine condition book. Kicking his legs under the water the half-elf hung on the side of the small boat, pushing his hair out of his face he listened to the firbolg. "...huh. I mean it was already weird it wasn't all messed up from th' water yanno?" Resting his chin on the edge he added, "... are any of us even smart enough t'figure out what to do with it? Tried openin' it yet?"

 

[Wookie Nookie]

As they boarded the boat, Garret found himself at a loss for something to do. So he chose to nestle into the front of the boat an fiddle around with his lute.

Playing one song after another, with the occasional cheer from the fishermen busy at work.

After about fifteen minutes he remembered he too had a pole. Casting it into the water as Barost went for a swim, to try and catch anything worthwhile...

The treasures he returned with were interesting enough, until the book showed up. "Aye, I think you've found some real treasure there." Getting a bit of a look at it, "how do you suppose a fine thing like that got in the lake, and what do you suppose it does..?"

 

[Abrahms]

Taking the book back from Kaesalor for a moment, Barost moved to float on his back, somewhat using his ability to shape water to keep him from floating too far away as he flipped through the pages. "Dunno ... I don't understand most of these pages, 'cept these ones in th' back. Looks like halfling, an' this looks like it might'a been a journal? 'Bout a hundred and sixty years ago if my math's right." He flipped back a few pages to the unfamiliar script, showing it to the group in the boat, "Any of you lot understand this?"

 

[RuneRW]

Kaesalor looks intently on the language before it clicks to him. "I know this one. What do you call those little guys... Gnomes, I think is the name for them! Some lived near our home and we traded with them regularly, so I picked up the language."

 

[Styrium]

Not completely satisfied, but accepting that it was the best search you could have done, the group rows the boat back to the repair docks where it was found. Garret, then, leads you through the winding passages throughout the village until you see a slightly shorter but wider building, the scent of ash and smoke grow stronger the more you get closer to it. You walk around to the front of the establishment where you see a pile of rusted blades and even worse-looking armor. Near the pile, an older halfling woman, that appears to be analyzing every item thoroughly before throwing it in one of the buckets by her feet.

"I'm impressed they could even put up a fight while wielding these." The woman, known to Garret as Idagrace Silverwit, mumbles to herself as she tosses a broken shortsword into a bucket. She scratches her short gray hair, that from the right angles could be seen as the sandy color it once was, and sighs before screaming to someone inside. "Sitsk! Are you finished with those nails already? Get your ass out here! We have some sorting to do!" Without waiting for an answer she turns around to go inside, noticing the four people that just arrived. "Ah, travellers and the taller Tallman stopping by my shop. What can I do for you, darlings?"

 

[Wookie Nookie]

Garret gives her his winning smile, "Idagrace how are you my darling? How's buisness?" Without waiting for an answer, "my new friends and I have found some interesting trinkets, and wondered if you'd be interested in making us an offer?"

Following her into the shop itself, he makes himself at home leaning on the counter.

 

[Styrium]

She motions inside and starts talking on the way to the front of the business part of her forge. "Those slimy newts screwed my business! The Iron Guard expects me to sort through all that garbage and see if something is good enough to be made into new weapons... Takes away all the art of smithing! We're not a godsdamned production line!" She hits the counter and breathes in deeply, before smiling back to you all. "I'm sure you didn't come here to listen the ramblings of an old woman. You mentioned some trinkets, I can take a look at them for you, lad."

 

[Abrahms]

Still a bit damp from his swim however looking somewhat happier for it, even after the chaos of the morning, Barost followed once more where Garret led through the village. Joining the fellow half-elf at the counter he leaned on it as well, peering at the work the halfling had before her.

He smiled, "Iunno, sometimes ramblings are where th' most useful information comes from." Turning to the party he added, "Th' stuff I knew earlier was from listenin' to ramblings, proved quite useful yeah?" Reaching into a pocket he brought out the gem-covered ring, "We was wonderin', someone as skilled and knowledgeable as yerself, if ya might know what this is, or at th' least its value? Found it in th' waters now that they're safer, but if can return it to an owner, might as well try, yanno?"

 

[Styrium]

Idagrace takes the ring into her small hands and takes a good look at the jewelry design. "Not sure, love. This isn't one of mine, for sure, I'm not the greatest at jewelry work." She continues to inspect it, rubbing of the years of dirt and grabbing a round glass to look closer into it. "Not even rusted... This is a very fancy ring to be thrown away, I wonder what's the story behind it... I'm not exactly sure how much this would be worth, but probably more than ten gold pieces. Very fancy." She pockets the glass and hands the ring back to Barost.

 

[Abrahms]

With a grin Barost took the ring back, placing it into his pocket for now, "We'll hav'ta keep an eye out for who it mighta belonged to then." He paused, "Actually, with yer glass, is there anythin' written inside the band? Sometimes people do that, heartfelt messages an' all." Offering the ring again he added in halfling, "I'm sure a lovely lass like yourself, pillar of the community that a blacksmith is, knows a fair amount of the history here, aye? Can you think of anyone who used to sell magically protected books, or even might've been magically skilled? Found something else as well, awful curious, but some of it's written in Gnomish!"

 

[Styrium]

The smith takes the ring once more and looks on the inside of it. "There sure is, good idea to look in there. It's written "May our paths ever intertwine." - very beautiful, probably a wedding band of some kind." Her eyes linger on the ring a little longer before returning it. When the half elf changes to Halfling she shakes her head a little as her smile grows even wider. "Never heard one of you pointy-ears speak Halfling before, but it doesn't make you any less right, I get to know a little bit about everyone. But, magic... Here in Dewfall it's difficult to find such things. I think other than the witch and..." She stops mid sentence and gives Garret a worried look. The older halfling appears to have lost words for a moment before continuing, talking slightly faster than before. "Before that, many years ago, there was this kid called Claire that could talk without moving her mouth. That, for sure, freaked out the village more than usual. But it was many, many years ago and the family moved to Bankshire to ask some scholar about what might've been happening the last I heard... What else did you ask, sweetie? Oh, Gnomish, yes... Not that I've heard, Gnomes mostly leave to the south or west of the mountain range and very few make their way this far north."

 

[Abrahms]

Pocketing the ring this time more completely he smiled, "Ah, perhaps there's a matchin' pair elsewhere then." Leaning on the counter Barost grinned even more as he listened to the woman. "Found it useful on the docks before, and maybe we'll see young Claire on our travels. Many thanks for the knowledge," he bowed his head slightly before standing upright, stretching slightly.

Resuming in common, "Anythin' we need to buy here? I feel we should at least get somethin' to make up for usin' her very valuable time, yeah?"

 

[CommanderRoussanne]

Smiling Mel nods, taking out five pieces of gold, she gently lays it out on the counter. "My thanks, and I hope the day finds you well, my dear." Looking back to the others she flips her hair back.

 

[RuneRW]

Kae pauses in contemplation with a long hmm... "I think since we will have a long journey ahead of us, we should buy tents. Do you happen to sell them?" He asks with as much of a friendly face as he can.