14/04/2020 - Quarrels over Quarters, Ship Shenanigans and Paper Problems

## TL:DR

* Dr T gave the group a metric ton of information about the island of Cypropa  and the ATC , before sending them off to find the lost Divining Rod.
* Rocky  and Trimaeus had a fall out about who got the Captains quarters / should be in charge of the Wildmane .
* The group spent 8 days on the Wildmane  sailing to Cypropa , during which time everyone got up to various shenanigans and conversations.
* On arrival at Cypropa  there was some initial confusion about why they had no papers for the Wildmane .
* Eventually met Officer Horden, the regional leader of the ATC , who told them where they needed to go to start looking for the Divining Rod and offered to lend them some horses for free if they spent a night entertaining her.

## Information dissemination

Dr T finished explaining how a previous group of guild explorers had borrowed the Divining Rod to search for the flaming sword of Orn the Red, but had lost it during an attack by something on the Island of Cypropa , near the Anks Mountains (yeti, witch, some other monster!?!). Dr T went on to highlight that this previous group had been kicked out of the guild for their incompetence, so sadly weren’t around to question, and that it was imperative that the Divining Rod was located quickly. Narko  and Tamsin  asked Dr T if she knew how long it would take to sail to Cypropa , wind depending. Dr T reckoned that it would take 8-9 days with favourable winds, up to 12 without. Dr T then pulled out a sweet-as map of Cypropa  and briefly described the known history of the island. She explained that Cypropa  had mostly escaped the attention of the Iysgarth Empire and had historically been dominated by small native halfling tribes who undertook small-scale, low-tech, subsidence farming. However, after theIysgarth Empire began to wane, and other Corporations began to once again explore the Seas, Cypropa  was taken over by the Altheelian Trade Corporation (ATC ), who run the island to this day. Apparently, the ATC  had rapidly industrialised the Island in an attempt to maximise the extraction of copper for export, and had set up a regional headquarters in the City of Branxom.

Several of the group who were relatively new to the Archipelago and its inhabitants inquired further about the nature of the ATC . Dr T explained that the ATC  are based on the Island of Altheel, are a major lobbyer of the Trifecta Government, and have their fingers in all sorts of pies. Bayul  then asked if the previous group who travelled to Cypropa  had contacted / worked with the ATC . Dr T confirmed that they had sought permission from the ATC  to access and travel through the Island, but other than that no. Kunai  then asked if the ATC  were likely to have had any dealings with the Venusto mafia and whether they were likely to aid the guild in bringing Krieg Venusto to justice. Dr T replied firmly in the negative, explaining that the ATC  are certainly not open criminals and, in public at least, avoided any dealings with mafia groups such as the Venustos. Though, as Tamsin  pointed out, they were still “shady as shit”. Merric  then asked if the ATC  had any presence on Ilbidor , or whether there were any islands en-route to Cypropa  that were controlled by the ATC . Dr T said that they had no presence on Ilbidor , as they tended to either have absolute control of an island or no presence at all.  And added that whilst there were island’s controlled by the ATC  en-route to Cypropa , the need for speed meant she thought it unwise for them to take any detours to visit them. Dr T then asked about the group’s ship/crew situation. This led to Rocky telling the story about how Trimaeus’s  ship got buggered, but that it was fine because they found a new magical one. Dr T  seemed very concerned about Trimaeus  and the loss of his livelihood, but Rocky somewhat lessened her worries by explaining that Trimaeus  had agreed to crew their new ship.  Then, with all of the necessary information disseminated, Dr T bid the group God-speed, and said she would see them soon. Narko  suggested it would absolutely not be soon, as it would take at least 16 days to sail there and back, whilst Merric  added that it could be 24 days depending on wind speed... Keen to avoid another mathematical aside from Merric , Rocky suggested they should leave, and on the way out added that he hoped Dr T wouldn’t be so rude to him in the future.

## Quick Maths

As the group left Dr T’s office, they were immediately faced by an undeniably massive obstacle, some stairs. However, on this occasion, much to the astonishment of the rest of the group, Narko  veritably pranced down the stairs (he was in a good mood as had found out earlier that the wave that devastated Merchendale was unlikely to have reached his herd in the Wastelands). Indeed, Rocky was so impressed with this unexpected show of dexterity that he started improvising a song about Narko  being the “stair-master”, which somehow swerved into a lengthy discussion about the music and instruments native to different people’s cultures. The group were particularly interested to hear that Bayul  and his Loxodon pals regularly played tiny violins whilst banging massive drums and trumpeting...

Once back on the ship, it was immediately obvious that Trimaeus  wasn’t there, and that he had no idea that the group needed to set off with haste the following morning. As such, Rocky , Bayul , Khrom  and Narko  went off to locate him, predictably finding him in the nearest tavern to the ship. After persuading him to put a cheeky round in, Rocky explained to the Captain that he was needed to sail the ship tomorrow, as despite being Admiral he had no idea how to drive a ship. Trimaeus  was clearly unhappy about this, and mentioned that he’d actually been planning to visit some friends on Ilbidor  tomorrow. Thankfully, Khrom  was on-hand to remind Trimaeus  that if he sailed with them, he would get to see his oldest friend, the sea, whilst Rocky added that he could even bring his other friends with him if he wanted. These comments brought a wry smile to Trimaeus’s  face, but he cheekily pointed out that could hardly bring the bar with him. Realising that Trimaeus required a more liquid based excuse to come with them, Rocky asked what Trimaeus’s favourite drink was (an Altheelian whisky), before asking the bartender how much it would be for a barrel. After some quick maths, the bartender told Rocky that it would be 700 GP for a barrel. Even Rocky realised that this was quite a big number, so quickly asked Trimaeus if a barrel of the most basic red wine was acceptable instead. After some more quick maths by the bartender, Rocky was told that the cost of a basic barrel of red was 10 GP. Rocky offered 5 GP and a performance, but this was declined as there was literally no one else in the bar to perform to. After getting Narko  to count the 10 GP for him, Rocky took the barrel and strode off, calling back to Trimaeus that he could have the barrel when he showed up on the ship tomorrow.

## Pre-journey jobs

As the group left the tavern, they bumped into Ves , who explained that she had been off visiting a few people, checking in on her fancy apartment, and planning a few letters she needed to send tomorrow morning before they left. Admiral Rocky was not impressed to hear that Ves  wanted to do errands in the morning, but eventually agreed that she could do them if she was quick. The group then headed back to the ship and without any discussion about who should sleep where, went to bed, with Rocky deciding to claim the Captains quarters in Trimaeus’s absence. Most people went straight to sleep, but Ves  spent a while writing letters to all 5 of her sisters (putting a piece of Faldor crystal in each envelope) and to her patron, the Fieffers. Narko  also quickly penned a letter to his family, as he was still keen to get absolute confirmation that his family and herd were safe.

The following morning, Ves and Narko  got up early to send their letters. Narko  asked Ves if she’d send his for him, as he wanted to quickly pop into the apothecary to buy some “supplies”. As Narko  entered the apothecary, the owner gave him a sideways glance and asked if he was here to pick up the “Wasteland  flowers”. Narko  replied that he was and happily paid 5 GP for 20 uses of the “flower”. The owner then gave him a cheeky wink and said that now a supply line for the “flower” had been established, he should be able to get some excellent offers on any future purchases. As Narko  left the apothecary he almost trampled over Scribbulus , who was just on his way in. Scribbulus , keen to see if he had a fellow horticulturalist in the group, excitedly asked Narko  what he had been buying. Narko  looked very uncomfortable and stammered something about buying some flowers to send to his wife. Despite the fact these “flowers” were clearly some sort of dried weed, Scribbulus  just gave Narko  a beaming smile and said that he was a very nice Centaur. Unsure whether he’d fooled Scribbulus or not, Narko  headed back to the ship, whilst Scribbulus went in to purchase some (fully legal) supplies from the apothecary.

## Captain quarrels

Back on the ship, Trimaeus  had returned from his night on the Island and was quickly and efficiently handing out orders to his crew. As he was doing this, Rocky emerged from the Captains quarters wearing only pants. Whilst Ves  queried his lack of clothes, Trimaeus  shot Rocky a subtle scowl and asked him for a word. Trimaeus  then sassily told Rocky that if he’s going to take the Captains quarters then he should take on much more responsibility for running the ship. Rocky , who didn’t seem to notice the sass or resentment emanating from Trimaeus , agreed that this was a great idea. He went on to suggest that maybe they should have a one-on one-off cabin sharing situation, where the person who got the room had to do all the captains jobs the next day. Clearly unhappy with this suggestion, Trimaeus sassily shoved his map and compass into Rocky’s hands and said “fine then, go get us out of the harbour” and stomped off to join a bemused looking Bayul  at the side of the ship.

Rocky , who still didn’t seem to realise that Trimaeus was pissed off, immediately put on a captain’s hat and pulled out the map.  However, as he had no idea how to read maps, he immediately called out for Ves to help him, whilst Trimaeus and Bayul  exchanged a smirk. Unfortunately, whilst Ves was excellent at reading land-based maps, she was not at all familiar maritime maps, and asked why Trimaeus wasn’t doing this. Rocky  happily explained that Trimaeus had made him Captain for the day and that they were going to share the captain’s duties. As Ves looked on bemusedly, Rocky  confidently decided to ignore the map and simply shouted “men and women, take off the ropes…”. Whilst the main crew just stared at Rocky blankly, Khrom  took this command literally and lobbed the nearest rope he could see overboard. Furthermore, Blagden , seeing an excuse for mischief, immediately began giddily untying every knot he could see, whilst Tamsin  just laughed and did nothing to stop him. Bayul  angrily told Blagden  to stop being stupid, but Blagden  retorted that Bayul  wasn’t captain, Rocky was, and as Rocky  had said to take off the ropes, that was what he was going to do! Blagden  then ran over to Khrom  and very politely asked him to pass a higher rope to untie. Khrom , who was as usual suspicious of Blagden , but shocked by his unusual display of politeness, eventually passed him the rope, which Blagden  promptly untied. Despite the fact that Merric  was following Blagden  and retying all of the knots, Bayul  was now very angry, and turned to Trimaeus to ask him to “save us from this hell”. Trimaeus gladly stepped forward and told Rocky  that he was clearly not yet capable of being Captain, and that until such a time that he was, he could not be in charge of the ship. Rocky  retorted that Trimaeus  was a drunk, but Trimaeus  immediately countered that he was an extremely high-functioning drunk, an excellent Captain, and thus in need of the Captains quarters. Rocky , now confused and upset by the whole situation, stormed down into the hold to see Wilbur. As Bayul  and Khrom  followed after Rocky , Trimaeus  finally managed to stop Blagden  untying ropes and got the Wildmane  on its way.

## Goliath guidance

As the Wildmane  began to sail out of the harbour, Bayul  and Khrom  found Rocky  sitting sadly next to Wilbur. Bayul  told Rocky  that they needed to sort some things out. Rocky  stammered that he didn’t understand why Trimaeus  was in such a bad mood. Bayul  calmly explained that it irritated people when Rocky  claimed that the ship was his, and that as Trimaeus was an expert long-time Captain they had to show him more respect. Rocky  moped that he used to respect him, but now thinks he’s a grumpy bastard! And that it shouldn’t matter which room he sleeps in, particularly if like last night the room wasn’t even being used! With a sigh, Bayul  went on to say that he actually thought he and Rocky  were very similar, in that both of them had ended up as leaders when perhaps they weren’t ready. He then outlined the reason he was in the guild. He told how until recently he had just been a soldier, but had risen quickly through the ranks until he was in charge of entire battalions and winning wars. However, he had risen too quickly, and his somewhat arrogant, top-down leadership approach eventually led to a rebellion against him by his own men, which led to him and many others (including Gimble ) to be screwed over. Bayul  continued that he had lost everything in the rebellion and had since spent many years in pseudo-exile. He explained that he had joined the guild in an attempt to re-join the world and maybe even re-learn how to be a proper leader, and that he didn’t want Rocky  to make the same mistakes that he did in trying to be a leader to quickly. Rocky replied that he wasn’t trying to be a leader, and that until Narko  had rescued him his life had been nothing but performing, making people happy, and giving money to Krieg Venusto . He added that he knows he’s “not the smartest box in the tool” and doesn’t understand why people listen to him, but that when he does take a lead and do things on a whim, it seems to work! He continued to say that he just wanted to make things better for people, and that when Trimaeus had been bitching about not wanting to sail yesterday he bought him wine, and that he only slept in the Captains bed because it was a darn sight nicer than the hell-hole he’d been forced to sleep in at the Pink Pony! He explained that he had had enough of nasty people, and that if Trimaeus was going to be a dick, then he couldn’t be bothered with him. Bayul  then stated that he thought Rocky had the potential to be a mighty admiral, but that for now he was too young, and needed to learn to rely more on the skills and experiences of others. For example, he should listen to the intelligence of Merric , the pragmatism of Narko, and the politeness of Khrom , but maybe not bother learning anything from Blagden ... Rocky sat silently for a moment, then thanked Bayul  for talking with him and asked if he could have some time alone with Wilbur. As Bayul  turned to leave, Rocky  called out to him and said that he thought Bayul  was learning too. That even just a couple of weeks ago Bayul  used to be super grumpy and didn’t know how to talk to people, but how he was better at it. Rocky  then stood up and said that he would pledge his hammer to Bayul’s  leadership. Bayul  seemed somewhat taken aback by this offer, but said that he did not accept leadership of the group, as he did not think they necessarily needed a single leader, and that he certainly did not deserve such a pledge. Rocky  disagreed, but said that for now he would leave it be and go talk to Wilbur about future Island names.

Whilst Bayul  and Rocky  were having their heart to heart, Khrom  had snuck back upstairs to grab two tankards of ale from the donkey and cart he apparently owned. He returned to find Rocky  now sitting alone, and said that the two of them can just be alone together with the ale. Rocky  said that that would be nice, and the two of them sat together with an extremely large blanket that still only covered one leg each. Khrom  then cast speak with animals so that he could translate Rocky  and Wilbur’s naming discussion.

## Spyglasses and spying

For the next eight days the Wildmane  made the journey from Ilbidor  to Cypropa . This gave many in the group a chance to engage in various activities and conversations. Merric  decided to spend his time trying to make some spyglasses using his tinkering tools. After some expert scavenging he successfully gathered enough resources to make three spyglasses (one at 2\*mag, one at 4\* mag and one at 8\* mag) which he gave to a very impressed Captain Trimaeus . Whilst Gimble  spent most of his time (unsuccessfully?) trying to befriend Khrom’s  donkey, Tamsin  and Blagden  tried their hand at some fake fortune telling to earn a few coins. Blagden  used ratty to spy on a crew member called Borin. Then, using the information gathered by Blagden , Tamsin  pretended to read tarot cards for Borin in front of an intrigued group of crew and guild members. Borin asked Tamsin  when he would finally manage to get out of the ships business. Whilst Tamsin  pulled three cards, Blagden  watched Borin carefully though rattys eyes, looking for any tells. Tamsin  explained that the first card showed that Borin was a great fighter, but that this is not how he would escape the ship. The second card was rather worryingly the Hanged Man, but Tamsin  explained that for Borin this didn’t mean death, it meant that something would impact him seriously and that much conflict was coming to the ship. Tamsin  then explained that the final card, the Emperor, meant that eventually Borin would get a great fortune. Borin was completely hooked by Tamsin’s  tale, as were most of the watching crowd (apart from Merric, who quietly pronounced it as “mumbo jumbo”).

## Rogue remarking

Blagden did not just spend his time on ship spying on the crew, he also used the journey to find time for a highly sneaky rogue-convo with Kunai . One evening, when Tamsin  wasn’t in their room, Blagden pulled out his copper wire and sent a magical message to Kunai , initiating the following conversation:

*“Hey, Kunai , it’s your Kid brother here… don’t worry, I have this sneaky sneaky way of talking into people’s heads! You can whisper back and only I can hear! I was just finking, what do you reckon about the rest of these guild lot?”*

**“Hey Kid, hmmm, hard to say, is the woman you travel with a brother? I've seen you brush by a couple of marks, but is she in on the trade? I need to know who to dress up for, I hate to have to get my cutlery dirty while cooped up on this thing born from the Big Boys' Iron Bit.”**

*“She's no brother, but is a real pearl oh yes yes yes, teaches me how to twist, sing and smoke. She's in on the trade, an expert kisser and cook, so no need to dress up for her. You certainly won't be getting your cutlery dirty on her account. So, you know of any other Brothers or Friends on board this Iron Bit? I don't trust the Whites and Points, and I think the lawyer was a Cloak!.”*

**“All of my other Brothers remain at home. As a matter of course, I never wear white if it can be avoided. The lawyer hung up his cloak a month ago, though checks in from time to time. Between the two of us, be careful of friends with big noses, as they are sometimes too distracted by the act of breathing fire to be true dragons.”**

*“Yes yes yes, I too do not trust those with big noses, they are no dragons of mine! And the big string seems very very stupid, but maybe a useful friend given time and iron. I do not like the nag, he is a stupid big tooth, and would happily see our type resting me thinks.”*

**“The nag and the simple string are straightforward enough to be honest. To be sure, all strings are inert, but ours is especially so. Purity incarnate, but blemished by life. A string of unpredictable length, though infinite potential.”**

*“Hmmm, I don’t know what the heck a lot of those big words meant! But what of the naked ship dragon? I suspect he is no stranger to magpies, and he must have heard of some good digs in his time.”*

**“Naked Ship Dragon. Now there's an image. Magpies will flock to him, and him to they. I would count him a stone collector of the highest order. How straight he is I don't know. The proposition from our friends to keep the stopper on his bottle was a good one, though may backfire.”**

*“From what I've seen, clothing the silly naked ones never goes well, but we will find out soon enough! For now, let’s both closely watch the naked ship captain and the others. Once we know how much each of them bends, we will get a better idea of who might be friends, and who are just jumped up cloaks, oh yes yes yes!”*

**“Very well, just leave the cookery to the professional chefs until our next excursion.”**

## Friendly fraternising

The rest of the journey to Cypropa  was relatively unremarkable. Scribbulus  began teaching Azurial the basics of herbalism, whilst Narko  spent most of his time increasing his athleticism. Narko  also sought out Khrom  to engage in some sparring practice. As well as increasing their martial prowess, this gave the two big-uns a chance to share a bit more of their backgrounds with each other. Narko  asked Khrom  how he came to be so skilled with an elven weapon. Khrom  explained that after he abandoned his evil tribe to help save Merric’s  village he ended up spending some time training as a guard with the Valenar elves. Narko’s  interest peaked at the mention of the Valenar elves. Narko  outlined how the centaurs of his herd (the Skiltgravr) and the Valenar elves had a fractious relationship, with the centaurs being regularly angered by the elves in-ward facing nature and a perceived lack of help in dealing with the monsters of The Wastelands . Narko  said that he disliked the fact that the centaurs and elves quarrelled, and that when he eventually becomes a fully trained tribe rune maester he hoped to work towards healing the relationships between the two. He asked if Khrom  had any contacts or influence over the elves. Khrom  said that he certainly knew many of them well, and would be more than happy to help in any way he could. Narko  replied that Khrom  could likewise always call on the help of the Skiltgravr tribe if needed. The two ended their discussion with ale and weed (well, Khrom  had ale, Narko  just got very high).

The eight-day journey also gave Trimaeus  and Rocky  an opportunity to make-up for their earlier fall-out. Trimaeus made a point of seeking out Rocky  and offered him a drink. Over drinks and cards, Trimaeus suggested that if Rocky  truly did want to become a proper Captain then maybe he could start following Trimaeus  around to learn how to read maps, compasses, tie knots etc. Rocky  was very keen and Trimaeus  immediately began showing him some map stuff. Rocky  was super engaged, but most of what Trimaeus  showed him went over his head. They ended their evening with Rocky  saying he would love to shadow Trimaeus  and that maybe in the future he might even be allowed to steer the ship…

## Paper production problems

After eight days of sailing, the group finally saw the shores of Cypropa  on the horizon. As they neared, they noticed a ship approaching from the direction of Branxom flying the blue and yellow flag of the ATC . Someone on the ATC  boat was manically waving some flags, but unfortunately the only person who could read flag symbology was Trimaeus’s  now deceased first mate. Bayul  suggested that they should at least slow down, whilst Merric  inquired as to whether there were any books from which he could learn this language. Trimaeus said that there was no book, which Ves  found particularly poor form. Worryingly, the other boat appeared to be loading their canons, so Ves  suggested that maybe they should just wave some white flags. It was agreed that this was wise, so Trimaeus ordered his crew to wave some bedsheets around. As they did this, Bayul  suddenly heard a voice speak into his head, saying “you are an unidentified vessel, follow us”. With this information conveyed to Trimaeus , he guided the Wildmane  carefully after the ATC  ship into the Copper Bay.

As they docked, a half-orc-elf (?) wearing a blue and yellow cloak approached and made her way onto the deck. She somewhat angrily demanded to know who they were and what they were doing here unannounced. Bayul  explained the situation, and insisted that they had actually tried to send word ahead, but that their raven must have got lost… Looking bemused by the raven thing, the half-orc-elf demanded to at least see the ships papers. Bayul  called over for Trimaeus  , who just shrugged and reminded Bayul  that it was a magical ship that appeared out of nowhere. Hearing this and realising the situation, Tamsin  snuck away down into the hold to begin forging some fake papers. To give Tamsin  time for her forgery, Bayul  stalled by asking if the ship could be used as papers for the ship. Merric  helped by arguing that ships and paper are both forms of wood, therefore the ship could indeed be its own papers. Unimpressed by this flawless logic, the half-orc-elf ordered her guards to temporarily arrest Trimaeus  and remove him from the ship. She then followed Trimaeus  and her guards off the ship, leaving behind one dim-looking guard with orders that no one should enter or leave the ship until papers were produced.

Once the half-orc-elf had left, Bayul  approached the guard and asked him for his name. The guard looked confused and replied “papers, can’t leave until papers”, and then added "Konn is name". Ever keen to assist, Blagden  asked Kunai  if it would help if he made the guard both blind and asleep? Kunai  cracked a wry smile, but told Blagden  to wait. Meanwhile, Rocky  paced around the deck mumbling angrily that the whole situation wasn’t that hard to understand and that surely a magically appearing ship didn’t need papers. Rocky  then created a minor illusion of some papers and attempted to deceive the guard into thinking they were real. Initially, the guard was fully convinced, but as he reached to take them, they disappeared, which led to him requesting more papers. Rocky  successfully convinced the guard that he had lost the first papers, but the guard simply ordered Rocky  to find more papers. Keen to acquiesce, Rocky  cast minor illusion again, thus setting in motion an infinite loop of an increasingly confused and angry guard finding and then losing papers…

Whilst Rocky  entertained the guard, Bayul  and Blagden  descended downstairs to see how Tamsin  was doing. She explained that she was doing her best, but had never actually seen such documents before so didn’t really know what they should look like. Hearing this, Blagden  suddenly zoomed upstairs, shouting that he would find some example papers. Arriving back on deck, he created an invisible mage hand and used it to pick the pockets of the very distracted guard. Blagden  found 9 copper, half a broken quill (which Blagden  thought was a particularly fine addition to his collection), a dirty rag, and a large handful of oats. Despite not finding any example papers, Blagden  excitedly ran back downstairs to show Tamsin  and Bayul  his finds. Bayul  asked Blagden  if he could have the oats. Blagden  said no way, as he needed them to feed ratty. Bemused, Tamsin  pointed out that ratty was an incorporeal spirit that lived in a pocket dimension and didn’t need food… Blagden  scowled at her, and huffily told Bayul  that he could have two singular oats. Bayul  sighed, and said he wanted all of them. Blagden  thought for a moment, then proposed that Bayul  could have all the oats, but only if he promised to give something to Blagden  in return. With Tamsin  as witness, Bayul  triple promised on his right ear that at some point he would give Blagden  something. Satisfied that in the worst-case scenario he would possess a Loxodon ear, Blagden  agreed and handed over the oats.

Now armed with a handful of oats and Tamsin’s  attempted forgery, Bayul  returned upstairs to the guard and handed him both, saying that he had added some extra payment to the guard for his troubles. However, the guard was not happy with the oats, proclaiming them to be only good for horses, and so gave them back to Bayul  before grumpily stomping away to take Tamsin’s  forgery to the half-orc-elf. Angry that the guard had disrespected his oats, Bayul  lobbed them into the sea, much to Blagden’s  distress.

## Hordon Erenford (or Heron Heronford?)

After 10 minutes or so, the half-orc-elf returned and proclaimed that the papers were clearly fake, but that she didn’t care, as the boss wanted to see them anyway. Blagden  asked who the boss was. She replied that it was someone called Horden. Thinking she said Heron, Blagden  went off on one about how it was silly for someone to be named after a stupid bird. The half-orc-elf ignored Blagden , released Trimaeus , and then pointed the group in the direction of some stairs that apparently led up to the ATC  headquarters. She also added that the group would be thoroughly searched before they left. Seeing the stairs, Narko  said that he would sit this one out to look after the Wildmane  and continue getting more buff. Bayul  said that he would stay with Narko  so that they could do some sparring, whilst Ves , worried about being arrested on this strict Island, also said she’d rather wait behind. Blagden  proudly pronounced that he and Tamsin  had been arrested loads of times, so they weren’t scared to go, whilst Gimble  and Scribbulus  also expressed their keenness to explore this new island. Scribbulus then zipped off to ask Narko  for the bag of holding, slyly asking if there was anything in it that he may not want to be found in a search. Looking somewhat embarrassed, Narko  said that there was nothing dodgy in the bag and that the weed, cough sorry flowers, were in his personal bag. He also added that there was a wizard cloak of mage armour in there that someone could use.

So, with Wilbur once again made small by Trimaeus , the highly questionable combo of Blagden , Tamsin , Scribbulus  and Gimble  prepared to be searched, as did Kunai , who immedaitely told Blagden  to “hide his cutlery”. Blagden  replied that he would, and to Kunai’s  surprise discreetly hid his dagger and thieves’ tools in a tiny pocket dimension he summoned. Confused by the reference to cutlery, Tamsin  asked if Kunai  liked cooking. Kunai  simply scowled. Thankfully, the search went without hitch, and the group soon found themselves walking up the stairs into a tunnel. On the walk, Scribbulus  was very excited about tiny-Wilbur, though Blagden  was a bit concerned that he might become very un-tiny in the confined tunnel. Tamsin  asked if there was any chance Wilbur might poo on them, but Scribbulus was confident that this would only happen if someone went under his bum.

Eventually, the group made it through the tunnel into a small town where some sort of half-elf-goblin guard was waiting. Scribbulus  asked what the guards named was, and he replied that most people called him mongrel. Shocked by this, Scribbulus  asked what his parents named him, but the guard said he had no parents. Blagden  excitedly added that he had no parents either, so maybe they were like long lost goblin brothers or something! Ignoring Blagden’s  weirdness, the guard said that his name was Jamel. Jamel then led the group into a large gothic-esque building inscribed with the initials ATC , before instructing them to wait in a courtyard for Officer Hordon. Whilst they waited, Scribbulus  pulled out the wizard cloak and asked if Tamsin  wanted it. Tamsin  took a look but said she wasn’t sure if it was her colour. Blagden  confirmed that it definitely wasn’t her colour and that she looked silly, earning him a playful slap. However, despite Blagden’s  mockery, Tamsin  donned it, thus gaining near permanent mage-armour.

A half-elf female then strode confidently out into the courtyard. After introducing herself as Officer Hordon Eronford (giving Blagden  another chuckle about herons), Scribbulus  explained that the group were with the Ilbidor  Archaeology guild and outlined their reasons for being on the island. Horden chuckled at the mention of the previous group who came from the guild, laughing that they were cowards who ran away from some monster. Horden then asked if they were just interested in locating the Divining Rod, or whether they were also interested in finding the treasure (the flaming sword of Orn the red). Blagden  immediately piped up that they were defo interested in both. Horden went on to explain that the previous group were attacked near the Anks Montains and that it would be a 2-4 day hike to get there, but that barges or horses could get them to the base of the mountains in a day or so. She offered to hire them horses for 2 GP per day per horse, which Blagden  grumpily pronounced to be a rubbish deal. However, she then added that if the group were to spend a night entertaining her (good company was few and far between on the island), she would consider them friends of the ATC  and so lend them horses for free. Kunai  suggested that they should go back and get Rocky  and/or Elyan . Scribbulus  agreed, adding that he’d heard rumour that Elyan  could play the clarinet or something. Apart from Blagden  (who mumbled something about the clarinet hurting his earses), everyone agreed that this was a good idea, so Horden sent a guard to summon Rocky , Elyan  and anyone else from the Wildmane who might want to spend an evening entertaining her…