Chapter 9 : Traveling North

#### Cost

Seeing the sea folk haul Rasforth and what remained of his crew under the waves, left a bleak feeling amongst the pirates in the community. He had been one of theirs, up until he attacked someone in the sanctuary of the town’s harbor. Meanwhile, people had already started picking up what remained of their town. Much damages was caused by the flooding, but also the fighting on top of that had added its share. Also Golden Tooth was clearly putting restoration of the community as a top priority. He notified Rufus to stand ready for the next council, which was later announced to be held the next morning. That, also, mainly focused on the town’s repairs, but near the end Golden Tooth asked Rufus what his intentions were. Would we join their community, as pirates, contributing to it, and in return gaining the sanctuary and – occasional – aid in moments of nautic high need? After some deliberations between Rufus and Drew, who were at the council, they decided that with the rise of the Order of Samui, we could not rely on any government or such, and we might soon find ourselves in dire need of strong allies. So we joined this band of pirates, hoping to keep our profile low enough that we would not everywhere be preceded by our reputations; that could make our work so much more difficult at times. Having said that, Rufus added that we would have to continue our Quest (without revealing what that is), which would take us out of Skulltown for quite some time.

#### Setting Out

We stocked the ship with rations and other necessities, traded the goods that we had inherited from the previous owner, and set out again in the direction that we had gone all that time ago when we went searching for the flute in Bogaria; first by sea to Groger, then by land to Rozarr-s’el-ebel, again by sea to Britt and from there on by river to Snovirn. The first days we had some good practice with setting and trimming the sails. Through Hendel (a Dwarf captain – I still cannot get over that), the ship gives us some hints on what to do, or how to do it better, so in all we are making good speed.

We have a close encounter with what looks like a coral- encrusted crab, that approaches us from below – fortunately a sleepy Drew in the crows nest still saw it just in time. Juneeka flies over as a sea eagle, but is rewarded by an immediate attack. Seeing that it is clearly hostile, we set all sails and manage to set a pace that slowly takes us away from the creature. The rest of our journey to Groger remains blissfully uneventful. Once there, we try to find some trace of the party from the Order of Samui that we expect still to be somewhere ahead of us, but to no avail. Also not much other news from the empire seems to have reached this place yet. We procure horses at ridiculous prices, and after a good night at a local inn, we set off across the land bridge separating both seas. Again, our journey remains blessed by lack of events – though dull we do make good speed and remain in good health. So, a few weeks later we find ourselves in Rozarr-s’el-ebel, at the river mouth. The city sprawls the banks of the river on both sides, with ferries connecting the halves. It seems to pivot on the transfer of river trade to sea, and vice versa. I repeat the routine I set in Groger, but cannot find a trace of any noticeable party that went before us. Another good night at an inn brings us to the riverbank the next morning, in search of a northward-bound river barge. Just when we approach the third, after the others are either going nowhere, elsewhere, or are fully loaded, we see to our horror the sky being torn open violently.

From the rip something appears that looks like a crossing between a dragon and a ship, and it lands on the river. Fighting the hostile urge that rises immediately, we briefly speculate that this boat might take us north much faster than anything else we’ve seen here. But we have little time for thought or discussion. From the side of the boat, two figures emerge from a doorway, lower an inflatable boat and row ashore – directly to where we are standing. While the two are drawing near, we feel there is something familiar about them. Even before I can clearly see them, I venture that they might be Cistor and Alfor – which certainly fits the half-elf features that are clear on one of them. To my complete astonishment, I turn out to be absolutely right. As they draw up on the shore, the Celestial vessel – as they inform us – takes off immediately. They tell us they pulled in some huge favors from an unknown person (or faction) to get here as fast as possible. They have quite some news to share with us. It was only by days that they missed us at Nimrods place in Hafan, after returning from their campaign to clear the orcs out of our country, and chase them away as far as possible.

Nimrod, it turns out, had discovered quite some new information in that time, about the origin of the Order of Samui, the now officially missing Emperor of Hafanus, and his former chief advisor, who turns out the run the Order, and is now absolute ruler in Hafan. As a result, and being keeper of two of the artifacts that are needed to operate the Well of Many Worlds, Nimrod has decided to go into hiding. Meanwhile, Cistor and Alfor travel to the far east to trace down the roots of the Order of Samui. Legend had it that someone there had been working already for centuries to find the artifacts, and had also somehow funded the founding of the Order of Samui. Finally, the Well of Many Worlds might well be in Hafan itself, explaining in one go their interest in the city – going much further than ‘just’ conquering the empire. We exchange some more of our stories, but soon decide that each of us must again be on their own way, as time is in short supply. The day nearly gone, we continue with some investigations, but finally are none the wiser when the next morning we finally embark.

#### Up the River

The going on the river is slow, traveling upstream. I have an almost continues, gnawing uneasy feeling in my guts, as winter might catch us before we reach our destination. Otherwise, the journey is quite dull. Though the landscape that passes us by is awesome, at some point, the river, endless forests, occasional farms or hamlets, start blending into an endless and featureless procession. At one night, Rufus suddenly wakes up with a strange feeling. He thought he might have heard something. Just to be sure, he glances outside, and is nearly comforted by the darkness – nothing seems amiss. But then he realizes that, at night, always one man is on watch and a lantern is burning. Darkness means the light is out, and who knows what might have happened. Sending us all a Message, we are up and about in no time. Rufus and Hendel keep an eye on the cargo deck, while Drew and I scout out the aft deck and cabin. We quickly find the guard with his throat slit. Juneeka hurries down to warn the captain, while at the same time I notice a hulking shape on top of the cargo, that just starts to attack Rufus. We close in for combat, and soon discover another one. The creatures are not natural, and with their long spear-swords deal vicious cuts that bleed hard and long. Our combined efforts leave them little chance, and just as the captain makes his way up to the deck, we have one of them dead between the cargo, while the other jumps ship, dragging Rufus with him. Even though all three of us, Drew, Hendel and myself manage to strike out at him as he goes overboard, the creature apparently lives. A dire grappling struggle under water ensues between him and Rufus. Eventually, they let go of each other. Rufus gets back to the surface, and the attacker gets away. After being tended by Juneeka and Drew, and taking as much rest as possible during the journey, our wounds heal quickly enough. Another couple of weeks takes us past the small trading village halfway the river, where we stop for last supplies and a bit of rest, and to the southern tip of Lake Snovirn.