The Wrong Guys IC II

[Ajadea]

You walk down to the river. Paral and the thing within it drift in and out of lucidness, at times almost panicking, at times seeming barely conscious. Three times it seems you almost must tie the boy down. But he never falls off the stretcher.

After over half an hour of walking, you get to a cluster of houses on the river bank. It could be called a village, but technically this uneven mess of wattle-and-daub housing is part of Attalin. However, the wooden sign tacked up in the main square that says 'Welcome to Drowned Fish' seems to hint that they have their own identity separate from the city on the other bank.

Most of the people in Drowned Fish seem to be either farming or fishing. The few who are not seem far more interested in Paral. Perhaps it is because he does a very good impression of an extremely inebriated and possibly drugged teenager, for someone who (hopefully) didn't have either sort of substance the previous night.

[Strawberries]

Audric looks around him to the small village. Well, at least no one is screaming or attacking the druid, which is good news as far as he is concerned. "Greetings" he says, to all and noone in particular. "Perhaps you could help us. We are bound for Attalin, and are looking for a way to cross the river."

[Ajadea]

"Half a mile upriver or so, sir. Don't need the dead fish smell all over here, see," a surly dwarf yells over the squeals of the three piglets in his arms. The black-spotted one wriggles hard, and slips out under the dwarf's left arm. The dwarf shouts something that might be an apology and rushes off without a goodbye, chasing the small animal and shouting in Dwarven mixed with language that sounds rather similar to what Antal was using earlier.

[Strawberries]

Audric suppresses a smile at the scene. "Thank you, and good luck!" he calls out to the dwarf. "Aldaran willing, we are almost there" he adds under his breath. He turns to the others to see if they are ready to move before picking up the stretcher again.

[Ajadea]

Half a mile upriver, there is indeed a stench of slightly rotten fish. The dock is frankly little more than ten berths evenly spaced, but it seems to be stable and in good repair at the least.

Most of the people there are fishermen heading out for the day and fishmongers at the three far berths selling 'fresh' fish for prices ranging from three to five coppers each. There are two ferries there as well, at the berth closest to you. Both crews are there, and to a certain extent, both are at work. The Sirine is in desperate need of a wash, and the deck is covered in clutter. Sunshine is cleaner, and bigger as well. It could probably hold three horses on deck with relative ease, unlike The Sirine, which would struggle with one. The fact that the song some of the Sunshine's crew seem to be singing keeps mentioning hedgehogs, among other things...well, let's just say that is not the sort of song you'd expect someone to be singing in polite company.

[Strawberries]

Audric smirks, amused. He actually knows that tune: he and Aamir have sung pieces of it a couple of times, when they were goofing around togheter. And there is no denying that is a funny song, even if he wasn't aware it had all those verses, and that some of them went into that level of...uhm...details.

He shrugs slightly and makes a gesture towards the two ships "Which one do you prefer?" he asks the others.

[Jallorn]

Antal surveys the ships, looking to see if he recognizes anyone on them, good or bad.

[Ajadea]

Antal

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There's a guy on The Sirine who might be the human idiot you met once in a tavern who swore that he rolled better on the dice without his shoes on. On Sunshine, you see two halflings up in the rigging who look vaguely familiar. You can't place their faces, but by the looks of it, they are singing the hedgehog song as well.

[Jallorn]

The Sunshine seems the better choice.

[Strawberries]

"I agree: bigger, cleaner and with an auspicious name." Audric nods, and takes a couple of steps forward towards the Sunshine's crew "Good day" he calls out "Might we trouble you for a passage on the other bank?"

[Ajadea]

"-oh the hedge-mmff!"

"Shut up, someone wants a ride!"

"Is that-"

"Quiet, all of ye!" barks one of the sailors. He is human, with a bushy, tangled, beard and beady blue eyes. He bows, sweeping his hat off his head with a flourish. "I'm Baldrick, captain of this little vessel. I'm always willin' to take one across the river. Three silver pieces per person."

[Jallorn]

Damnit paladin, Antal hisses at Audric, we were supposed to hide in the crowd.

[Strawberries]

"Smuggling five people and a wolf aboard a ship so small, under the nose of the crew?" Audric gives a dubious look to the halfling, adding not without a certain amount of sarcasm "You let me know when you've figured out how to do it."

He raises his voice, addressing the captain again "Of course, we'll be glad to pay the fee." he answers, bowing slightly "It would be the five of us." He throws a look at the others, to see if they have objections, before stepping towards the ship.

[Jallorn]

I'm not talking about stowing away or anything, we just didn't need to shout at them and draw attention to ourselves. You know what, from now on, when stealth is required, especially when we're somewhere I know better than you, Antal skips over the fact that that's just about everywhere in the city, I take the lead, okay?

[Strawberries]

"Yes, yes, you are going to be in charge of the stealth tactics" Audric answers, half amused and half exasperated "If you promise me you will defer to me when basic common sense is involved". Between the book thing and the teleporting away, the halfling hasn't shown a great amount of that characteristic, as far as Audric is concerned. "Now please, let me arrange for our passage. The sooner we cross the river, the better."

[Ajadea]

Baldrick clears his throat loudly. "If ye all be done with yer whisperin', then, that'll be twelve silvers, and another for the big mutt of yers. Five coppers more if it bites."

[Jallorn]

Wordlessly, Antal draws out six silver pieces and hands them to the captain.

[Savannah]

Rana keeps her head down and Shadow close to her side, although a careful observer might notice a flash of annoyance on her face when the captain called Shadow a mutt.

[Strawberries]

"I assure you, he is quite well trained" Audric steps in before Rana can say anything about the wolf, like suggest that he is probably more well-mannered than some people in the crew. Not that I think she would necessarily be wrong. He counts the other seven silver pieces, handing them to the captain, and gestures for the others to follow him aboard the ship.

[Ajadea]

Baldrick takes your coins with a smile and waves you on board. He turns to the sailors and shouts something nigh unintelligible to them. The crew seems to understand well enough however, and soon the ship is alive with movement. Soon enough, the ferry is on its way across the river. Most of the sailors seem content to leave you alone, though there is a lot of whispering going on.

All:

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Feel free to RP as long as you want. The boat will convieniently stop when you are done .

[Strawberries]

Audric puts down the stretcher with Paral, arranging it so that the boy is as comfortable as possible. He sits down, if he can, in front of Rana and Paral, aiming to somehow shield them from the more curious looks. He is not actively glaring at the crew, if for no other reason than it is quite difficult for him to maintain a convincing glare for long, but his expression surely doesn’t encourage people to stop by for idle chat. He is quite tense at the beginning, but after a couple of minutes he relaxes his posture a little. The steady rhythm of the boat on the river helps in this regard.

He looks around to ensure no one is near enough to eavesdrop, then speaks, keeping his tone low. “We are almost there, I think.” He makes a lopsided grin “Antal, I’ve got a stealthy situation for you. Once we are on the other side, I need a way to discretely contact my friend at the temple. I was thinking about sending a message” He addresses an apologetic smile to Llaars “Llaars, I’ve been meaning to ask you to deliver it, since you are the one among us who would drive the less attention” Who wouldn’t be killed on sight or made the object of uncomfortable questions, he means “But if you have objections, or someone else has other ideas, I would be glad to hear them.”

[Savannah]

Rana sits down and pulls Shadow close, as if she were a young girl with her pet. The wolf growls a soft warning at the indignity of being used as a pillow, but does not actively resist.

"We need to plan this carefully." Her voice is barely above a whisper. "We need to control when and where the meeting takes place, so that we have a way out if it goes wrong and he cannot bring in paladins we don't know about. Better would be if he doesn't even know where the meeting takes place.

"Audric....understand that if he attacks me, I will not hold back because he is your friend."

[Nanoblack]

Llaars

He shrugs at Audrics request. "I got no problem bein' the messenger. The way I see it though, we don't all need to be at the meet up. The less the paladins know the better." He lifts a hand to stop anyone from complaining as he continues. "Now I'm not sayin' we don't stick together, just that some of us need to stay outta sight unless we need ya." His eyes pass over Antal and Rana as he finishes his sentence.

[Strawberries]

Audric nods slowly at Rana's warning. "I have no right to ask you to. But I have know Kalan for...thirteen years now." he seems surprised himself of how much time has passed. "He is a compassionate, gentle person. He is not going to attack people without warning, especially if they are quite obviously my allies."

He sighs. He doubts he managed to convince the druid. "I'll write to him asking him to follow Llaars and to come alone. That way, he wouldn't know in advance where he is being brought. And I have got no objections if you decide to stay out of sight". He smiles at this point, but his expression is all but happy "But I will be asking him for help in saving a...well, a sorcerer. Not exactly a standard paladin duty. I guess we'll know soon enough what he thinks about it. And if he agrees...well, you might as well show up, he would already have committed a bigger breach of duty than leaving you alive could ever be."

[Jallorn]

Llaars is definitely the best person to deliver the message, but as for a location, well, it should be somewhere that can't be tied to anyone, but is likely to be empty. Antal pauses, and a look crosses his face as if he doesn't like the best option, I recommend we do this in the sewers.

[Strawberries]

"The sewers." Audric repeats, dumbly. "The same sewers we found a draconic elf, two gnomes, and an unidentified magical being in, not to mention your shady friends? It seems to me that the sewers are almost more populated than the city above." He stops, considering carefully the options. Not many that he can see, really. "But to be perfectly honest, they might still be our best option. Unless we decide to do this in the open, outside the city."

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((Ajadea, I suppose the city has a system of walls and gates, as standard for medieval cities, right?))

[Ajadea]

Yeah, walls, gates, towers, the works really.

[Savannah]

"I see two - no, three - possible problems with the sewers. One, if we don't scout the area well, we may become lost or trapped if the meeting goes badly or the spirit is freed and we have to flee. Two, it's remarkably well inhabited, and we may inadvertently endanger someone down there. Three, the spirit seems to have possessed him there, which would mean we'd be trying to banish it in its home turf."

[Strawberries]

Audric nods in agreement "Then let's not even bring him through the gates" he suggests "We would put less people at risk that way. We should find an isolated, safe place outside the walls, and bring Kalan to us."

[Ajadea]

The ferry soon docks at the far bank, just outside the walls. "We're here sirs, ma'am. Good day to you," he says, waving you off the ferry. As soon as all of you get off, the ferry heads back to the other bank. The piers here are certainly better kept than the ones on the far side of the bank, and you can see some trader's ships, unloading box after box of something or another.

The Sailor's Gate is only two hundred feet away or so, and as always, filled with people entering and leaving (but mostly entering) with carts and baskets and wagons full of things. It is the second-largest gate, after the South Gate, yet it almost seems like it could have been wider; guards are shouting for people to just wait their turns, and there are four full wagons already in line. Down the bank and on the other side, you can see field after field being plowed, and a few are being sowed with seeds. In summer, it will be filled with golden wheat, but now the primary color of the landscape is brown, green, and gray.